


Of Hatred and Determination

by Homestuck_bunny



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Blood and Gore, Demons, Human Bill Cipher, Identity Porn, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Super villain!Bill Cipher, Superhero!Dipper Pines, kind of
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-15
Updated: 2016-06-10
Packaged: 2018-05-06 21:24:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 36,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5431280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Homestuck_bunny/pseuds/Homestuck_bunny
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mindscape rose with one purpose:  to overthrow the legislature and dominate the earth, one region at a time.</p><p>Evergreen rose with one purpose:  to defeat the insatiate Mindscape and return balance to the places he has disrupted.</p><p>They both live separate lives, but both end up entangled in one another with no foreseeable way out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

Dipper was frozen.

He couldn't believe what had just happened to him.

"What?" asked Dipper, dumbfounded at the words he had just heard.  _Had he heard correctly? Surely he didn't. There was no possible way he could've heard the man before him correctly._

"You heard me," the man answered.

Dipper gnawed on his lip. "Surely, I heard you incorrectly." He laughed awkwardly as his eyes shifted around the room.

"No, Mr. Pines, you did not." he said. He wasn't helping. This wasn't what Dipper wanted; he wanted confirmation, not this.

"I'm not quite sure I caught everything you said, sir. It's little hard to focus over my shock." he pressed, trying his damnedest to not disrespect the hoary man before him, but wanting him to repeat his words. He  _needed_ to hear them again.

The man rolled his dull, grey eyes and released a heavy sigh. He shot an annoyed glare in Dipper's direction as he repeated his previous words:  "Mr. Pines. I regret to inform you,  _again_ ," his glared hardened and Dipper offered an apologetic smile in which the man blatantly ignored, "that the previous CEO of Providence has recently died in a tragic heart attack, and his son, Mr. William Cipher, has come to take over his position as both CEO and Chairman. He has requested a personal assistant that is well qualified for him, since he is taking on such a large position." He grimaced and Dipper frowned, unsure if this was a compliment or not.

"We, the board, have decided the most fitting employee is you, and we offer you the position in hopes that you will comply, although you don't have to feel compelled to agree, you may still keep your job." The man obviously didn't want Dipper to take it. Dipper didn't know what beef this guy had with him, but it only made the offer even more desirable.

The woman beside him gently nudged his side with her elbow and gave him an expectant look. The man glared in response and turned his attention back to the brunette before him, he couldn't do anything wrong while in the sight of the CFO, Acorst. "As expected, your salary will be greatly increased, we can work out an exact amount at a later date, however, you will be expected to work longer hours, whatever Mr. Cipher asks, and..." the older man again took in Dipper's appearance with a sour expression, "If you are to be working under Mr. Cipher, you are also expected to dress accordingly. We're a fashion company for god's sake," he added. Dipper looked down at his black jeans and grey coat. _What was wrong with what he was wearing?_

The woman beside him gasped and lightly smacked his arm, only making the man stare at her with half lidded, bored eyes, "Warnis! That was unnecessary," she chastised.

 _She didn't say he was wrong_ , Dipper thought bitterly.

The blonde woman turned to him with a contrite expression, "Please forgive the director. Will you accept or not, Mr. Pines?" she asked, her features growing tired and Warnis's growing insolent as he turned his head to the side childishly and avoided making eye contact with Dipper.

Dipper looked between the two higher-ups before him with a pensive gaze. On one hand, he knew that the Cipher's were rumored to be horrible to put up with, and almost everyone who worked for or with them had admitted to hating their job, but on the other hand, he really needed the money. Getting by on just $3,000 a month wasn't cutting it anymore, not with all of the bills. This was really what he needed right now. It was a godsend.

"If I'm not cut out for this, will I be guaranteed my job back?" he asked.

"No." 

"Yes."

Acorst and Warnis both spoke at the same time, which confused Dipper. He furrowed his eyebrows as his eyes couldn't settle on which person to stare at. The two glared at each other before the woman looked back at Dipper. She smiled gently, "Dipper," she said, setting Dipper off at the use of his preferred name, "we have a variety of employees at Providence, and we have many numbers, but you are by far the best qualified. However, if you see that you simply cannot handle the job, you will be guaranteed your job back." her smiled morphed into a more genuine one while Warnis scoffed beside her.

Dipper spared them both one last glance before he slowly nodded, "O-okay, I'll take your offer."

 

* * *

 

"We therefore commit Charlie Adam Cipher's body to the ground; earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust; in the sure and certain hope of the Resurrection to eternal life." The priest lifted his arms into the sky as the casket was lowered into the hole before them. A sob escaped a blonde women and she turned to lay her forehead on the shoulder of the younger man beside her. The man stared at her with disgust, but made no move to push her away. 

The man wanted nothing to do with this ceremony. He didn't want to be where he was. He had places to be and things to do! He didn't care about the old man in that casket, just like he never cared about his boy, not in the way he should have, at least. The man didn't harbor ill feelings toward the old man for what he'd done, or lack thereof. He just didn't care. Why should he? Caring was a weakness, that was one of the many things his old man had taught him:  never care about anything but yourself and your job.

_"What about my wife?" he would often ask in his ignorant youth, in which his father would scowl._

_"You can love someone without it being a weakness, William. Do not let her become a weakness." His mother would frown worriedly but say nothing, instead resuming whatever it was she was doing._

His expression softened at the thought of his mother, but it hardened once again as he turned his head to stare at the fiasco that was currently getting his suit wet and stained with makeup.  _She is weak_ , he thought to himself,  _I don't care about her, I only care about him_ , but he still found his arm subconsciously wrapping around her shoulders comfortingly.

Caring was a weakness when misplaced, and it was so easily misplaced, so instead, he hated, and hatred drove him to make the changes that needed to be made.

 

* * *

 

Dipper lightly knocked on the oak door, and entered when he heard a small voice from the inside. "Come in," it croaked, and Dipper did. He walked in and smiled fondly down at his sister's slender face.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey," she replied.

"You'll never believe what happened today." he grinned as the large door shut softly behind him.

She smiled brightly up at him, "What?"

"Guess," he encouraged as he pulled a chair from off the wall and dragged it over to her bed.

She sat up and gave him a playfully irritated look, "So you're gonna play it that way, huh?" she smiled. There was no real irritation in her tone. She brought her hand up to her chin and stroked it thoughtfully, "You found out you can shape shift into a frog?" she guessed. "No, you figured out how to multiply yourself?" she grinned up at him. "No, no, I know. You finally made an appointment to cut your hair!" she chirped excitedly and clapped her hands together.

Dipper laughed and shook his head cheerfully. "No, I didn't, Mabel." Mabel pouted and slumped her shoulders. "I did, however, get a new job." he grinned brilliantly and Mabel froze.

"Y-you what?" she asked.

"I got a promotion. I'm-"  
  
"Oh, thank goodness." Mabel brought a hand up to her chest and sighed, relived. Dipper's eyebrows furrowed and he tilted his head to the side, his expression riddled with worry. She smiled up at him and Dipper felt some of the worry subside, "I thought you were going to have to move or something," she explained.

"Oh, no Mabel, I would never leave you," he said.

"I know." Mabel relaxed and rested her back against the headboard behind her. "Tell me all about this new promotion," she demanded with a smile.

"Well, the CEO of the company died and-"  
  
"That's horrible!" she exclaimed.

"Yeah, sure. Anyway, I guess since he raised his son to work in the business, the board of directors elected him as CEO and Chairman."

"You can do that?" she asked.

"Do... what? Elect his son as--"

"No, no, be both Chairman and CEO." she clarified.

Dipper nodded, "It's actually possible to be President, CEO, _and_ Chairman." he informed her. Mabel snorted,  _he's always full of facts,_ she thought.

"Anyway," Dipper said, "he wants a personal assistant, and guess who they want to be that assistant?" he grinned.

"No way," she breathed, her eyes blown wide.

"Yes way." He grinned.

"Oh, I'm so happy for you!" she shouted and threw her arms in the air.

"It's not me who I did it for," Dipper frowned as a loud string of coughs erupted from Mabel from shouting, but continued speaking, "I did it for you," he smiled. Mabel returned his smiled, albeit sadly, as soon as she recovered and leaned back against the headboard.

"Dipper-" she started.

"So," Dipper cut her off, "has the nurse come to check on you today?" he asked, changing the subject and he looked around the room, his eyes lingering on the IV attached to Mabel's arm and the jagged, green lines on the screen representing her heartbeat.

Mabel sighed as she nodded her head and began to tell her all about the new nurse who came to check on her, along with her usual one, Pacifica, and about how cute he was. Dipper listened to her with an excited smile on his lips, although he had no real interest in the boy she was rambling about. He only cared about Mabel and what made her happy.

Caring was a strength, so he cared for his sister. He was determined, and determination drove him to make the changes that needed to be made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so, I came up with and wrote this when I was really stressed out with school (which is why it sucks so much), and it's going to stand as a side project, so don't expect often or scheduled updates. I got a laptop though, so maybe I'll be able to write more often after my break? :)
> 
> I know that I'm on said study break right now, but I'm really stressed and I want to give you guys something so bam, here's the superhero story that no one asked for.
> 
> Any names mentioned are either from Gravity Falls or made up.
> 
> I know everything sucks, and I'll fix it up after I either pass or fail this test (if I even fucking take it in the first place), I really need to come up with a better summary though. I mean seriously, this one sucks major monkey balls. :(
> 
> I know this is a little short, but it's only the prologue, and since this is a side project and I won't be updating to often, my chapter goal will be 10,000+.
> 
> Okay, I'll stop rambling and let you guys carry on with your lives. Kudos are appreciated but I'd much rather prefer to hear what you guys thought about this piece of crap (although you can totally leave kudos I mean no one is complaining heheheheh...). I love hearing what everyone has to say so very much. See you guys next year I guess. :)
> 
> (I'm new to this whole business shit so if anyone want to give me some pointers or correct something you saw, be my guest.)


	2. "If you don't quiet down people are going to think I'm murdering somebody... or fucking them."

"It's late." Mabel commented after a small moment of silence between the two twins, bringing Dipper's attention to the darkened skies outside of the small hospital window.

"You're right." he nodded in agreement.

"You should get going, before it gets dangerous... you know who favors the night these days." she mumbled and Dipper tensed.

"Mabel, I... I'll be fine okay? It's not like I've never gotten away from him before." he reminded her.

Mabel sighed, her eyes downcast, "I know... I know Dip-Dop. I just don't want you to have any unnecessary encounters. Better safe than sorry, right?" she said her favorite saying, offering him a cheerful smile, but there was a hint of sorrow mixed in, and something else: fear.

Mabel was scared for her brother, how could she not be? Almost every other night he was out and about, doing dangerous stuff and things of the like. She knew he was doing it for her, but that didn't make her feel better. Quite the opposite. What was she to do if he were hurt... or worse? Mabel wouldn't want to go on without her brother, and it's not like she could if he were gone. He was the one paying her bills, after all.

"Okay. Okay, you're right. I'll head home now and keep out of trouble for tonight, okay?" Mabel smiled up at him and nodded. Dipper rose from the chair he was sitting on and leaned over the bed to gently kiss Mabel's forehead just as the door was opened behind him.

Both twins turned their attention to the small, petite blonde who stood in the door way, awkwardly grasping the frame of it tightly with her slender fingers. She smiled uncomfortably at them, "Sorry to interrupt you guys, but visiting hours are over." she said.

"Its fine, I was just leaving." Dipper informed her and she smiled at him and nodded before leaving the two.

"You'll spend the night tomorrow?" Mabel asked hopefully.

"Like I always do." he grinned and gently patted Mabel's head, "See you tomorrow, Mabes."

"See you." she said and waved goodbye to him with a bright grin.

Dipper softly shut the door behind him and made his way to the elevator, waving goodbye to the nurses at the counter as he went. He shoved his hands inside of his jacket's pockets, only taking them out to push the buttons to take him to the ground floor.

Dipper felt tired. He was tired of all of the work, - and he would only have more, the thought made him sick - tired of all the danger in this city, if only Mabel hadn't been where she was that night, if only that night hadn't happened, if only it had been him, if only, if only, _if only_.

Dipper pulled out his phone as he walked out of the hospital doors and pressed the power button, still keeping his left hand in the pocket of his dark grey hoodie. 11:19, it read. Dipper sighed and shoved it back into his pocket harshly. _It's cold_ , he thought to himself as small clouds manifested in front of him with every breath of air he exhaled and disappeared behind him as the wind pushed past him, so Dipper decided to pulled up his hoodie and walk faster, hoping not to stay in the cold for too long.

When Dipper had been walking for about ten minutes, he heard some hushed voices coming from his right, just a small distance in front of him. Dipper decided to ignore it, and just to be safe, he moved to the other side of the street.

"...on, don't do this. Think about what you could gain!" Dipper's eyebrows furrowed, but he forced his feet to keep moving and his head to face forwards.

"You're making this out as if it would be beneficial to me." a voice that was too high pitched to be normal scoffed, however, Dipper could've sworn it was male despite the pitch. Dipper found himself stopping and turning his head towards the voices.

"It will be, though!" exclaimed a male as he threw his arms into the air. From the short glance Dipper stole, he could tell the man was tall, maybe a little over six feet tall. He was surrounded by three other men, they were all shorter than he, but not by much and more burly. Dipper didn't notice as his feet began to move themselves closer to the sketchy and seemingly illicit exchange.

"The way I see it, it won't. It'll only cause more trouble. Trouble that I don't need." he heard the same high pitched voice from before speak, but the speaker was nowhere in sight. Dipper was now hiding behind a wall to the right of the wide alley in which the men were speaking. "I have to say no, boys."

The taller man, who appeared to be the leader of the small group, snarled, "You can't do that! You know of our plans, you either must help us or we will kill you." the man shouted angrily, obviously not concerned about passing bystanders hearing him.

Dipper yelped loudly and took a few steps backwards in shock as the men beside him pulled out guns that were tucked in the back of their trousers. The leader snapped his head over to Dipper and whipped out his gun, pointing it in Dipper's direction. A pensive expression passed his face before he lowered his gun and pulled the trigger.

A loud cry ripped through the chilly air. Dipper couldn't feel anything but the smarting sensation in his leg. It burned, it stung, it hurt, it _screamed_ , and Dipper couldn't stop himself from collapsing on the dirty, disgusting ground.

A man barked out an order, but Dipper didn't know what was said. Everything was blurry and his ears rung loudly. Seconds later, he felt arms lifting him up and dragging him over to where another voice was shouting angrily. _Why must everything be so loud?_ Dipper thought to himself as he futilely struggled weakly against the pair of arms, even his thoughts were too loud in his head.

Dipper felt something cold press against his head, and that brought him back to his painful reality.

Dipper looked around with his eyes at the men around him, but they weren't looking at Dipper. No, they barely paid him any mind. Instead, their heads were positioned upwards, staring at something in the sky.

Dipper looked to where they were looking and felt his heart drop into his stomach.

There, floating in the sky, was none other than Mindscape, the brutal demon of a villain that Dipper despised so dearly. Dipper was suddenly hyper aware of the gun pressed to his temple.

"You will comply, or this poor innocent bystander will die. It will be your fault. Did he do anything? No. He is completely and entirely innocent, and that will be his blood on your hands. You say this is your city, so this is your citizen." the man beside him narrowed his eyes threateningly. The hovering man rolled his eyes and placed his hand on his hip. The wind was picking up and it didn't help the goose flesh that was spreading over Dipper's skin.

"You think I haven't killed innocents before?" he asked nonchalantly.

"N-no-" Dipper shrieked, but was silenced as a large finger dug into his newly opened flesh, making him squeeze his eyes shut and scream out in agony. Dipper thrashed and tried to get away from the man, but his grip around Dipper's neck only tightened, choking Dipper and making him splutter and cough as a few tears of pain slipped past his tear ducts.

Suddenly, there was loud, tired and irritated sigh and the coolness on his temple was removed, as well as the finger in his wound, and he felt a new set of arms wrap around his waist. They were more slender than the previous arms and gentler. Dipper suddenly felt his feet leave the ground and he scrambled to hang on to the person who was holding him up. He clung desperately to him and shoved his face into the crook of his neck, refusing to open his eyes and look down.

The whole time he was in the air, a firm and secure arm stayed woven under his arms while he heard grunt and shouts of painful agony from below. His back felt hot, but he ignored it and clung closer to the only thing keeping him from falling to certain death.

It felt like eons until Dipper finally felt his feet scuff the ground. Dipper stayed with his arms tightly around the other's neck before everything put itself into place. _I'm on the ground._ Dipper unraveled himself from the person who was previously holding him up in the air and looked up to meet the slightly annoyed face of Mindscape. His eyes were narrowed and his lips were pressed into a thin line. Dipper couldn't make out any more details due to the mask he was wearing, but he could _feel_ the annoyance rolling off of him in waves.

Dipper quickly pushed the other away from him, but he ended up pushing himself away from him, who stayed were his feet were planted, barely moving an inch. Dipper's breaths came in short and heavy as he shifted his weight to his left leg and looked around.

All around him were the four figures of the previously living and breathing men that had him temporarily hostage. They were now nothing more than charred and blistering bodies. Dipper felt bile race up his throat, but he slapped his hand over his mouth and held it down, not very easily, though. Dipper shuffled back until his back met the cold, brick wall behind him and he looked up at the well-known villain. He was looking at him with intrigue.

Dipper paled, "W-what are you going to do with me?" he asked as he removed his hand from his mouth and pressed himself further against the wall.

"Nothing." the man replied curtly.

Dipper frowned, "Nothing?" he echoed, confused.

"Well," he started, and Dipper felt himself gulp in trepidation as his eyes widened, "I may take responsibility. It's only just, and as you probably know, I'm all about justice."

 _Justice?_ Dipper thought and scoffed to himself. Dipper drew in a shaky breath and looked around, "What do you mean by 'responsibility'?" he asked.

"Where is the nearest hospital?" Mindscape asked, both answering and ignoring Dipper's question at the same time.

"U-um... ten minutes that way," he answered, pointing in the direction he had come from, "but I don't have the money to go t-to a hospital." he said.

"I do." the man answered.

"N-no, I can't." he said, staying firm. Dipper slowly began to inch closer to the edge of the alley way.

"Why?" he asked, annoyance seeping into his tone.

"I-I just c-can't." he shook his head and inched closer to the edge. _Just a little bit more, then you can run for it._

"That's stupid, give me an actual reason." he pressed his lips together and cocked his hip out to the side, resting his hand on it.

Dipper didn't answer, instead, he bolted out of the alley and down the empty street. He couldn't go to his home and he couldn't go to the hospital. He wouldn't be as stupid to lead a powerful super villain to his home or to his sister.

Dipper's leg burned with pain like nothing he had ever felt before and he was limping like a mad man, but he tried to ignore it, the adrenaline helping him slip the pain into the back of his mind. His body, however, did not omit the wound, and it slowed him down. Dipper huffed and puffed and pushed his body harder, but it was all for naught.

Just as Dipper was about to turn the corner, he slammed into something hard. Dipper wobbled for a few seconds before he fell backwards and stared up at the man looking down at him.

"Now that's just rude, kid. I offer to take you to the hospital, not necessarily out of the kindness of my heart, but more of a moral kind of thing, and you run away from me. Seriously, who raised you?" he asked rhetorically, scoffing and folding his arms over his chest.

Dipper held his gaze for a few seconds before me began backing up, "You're a monster." Dipper spat, "You killed those men, and now you're acting as if that is as common a thing as smoking a cigarette. If you had held me up the other way I would've been forced to watch you _burn them alive_." Dipper shook his head and brought a trembling hand up to his head, "Why haven't you killed me?" he asked quietly. He didn't want to know the answer. He didn't want this _demon_ to change his mind and kill him on the spot. He just wanted him to leave him alone. He just wished he would've kept walking.

"You pose a good question," he said, "but I don't care enough to answer it." Mindscape looked up from Dipper and looked around. Dipper could've sworn he whispered something like 'why are streets always abandoned when important stuff like this happens', but his voice was too quiet to be sure.

Mindscape looked back at Dipper and the boy flinched at the sudden movement. Mindscape grinned widely at Dipper, "Well, it's obvious that you won't go to a hospital, so I guess my place will have to do." he said and Dipper froze.

"Wha-" Dipper was cut off as Mindscape reached towards him and grabbed hold of him, lifting both himself and Dipper up into the air, his long jacket flapping behind him..

Dipper shrieked loudly and girlishly, which drew a laugh out of the menace. "You're adorable!" he shouted cheerfully, his voice hushed by the roaring wind, but Dipper heard him loud and clear.

"No, I am not!" he shouted back as he clung to the other's shoulder despite his gut screaming at him to get as far away from the other as humanly possible.

"Denial is the first step to acceptance." he retorted, his grin ever present on his lips as he zoomed at an alarmingly fast pace over the city, making Dipper hold on tighter as he glanced below them, immediately regretting his decision.

Dipper didn't bother to answer him, there was no point and he shouldn't be getting comfortable with the idea of bickering with the most feared person in the country, if not the world.

"Oh, almost forgot. Can't have you knowing where one of the most wanted criminals lives." he laughed and pressed his index and middle finger in between Dipper's eyebrows. Immediately, the brunette fell into unconsciousness.

 

* * *

 

 When Dipper finally came to, he creaked open his eyes one eye at a time to notice that he was in a dark room, too dark to see anything really, but more importantly, he had no idea where he was. He could move, but that didn't make him any less uneasy.

Dipper groaned and used his hands to support his weight as he pushed himself into a sitting position. At the same time, a door to his right opened, flooding the room with dim light, but it still hurt his eyes that were accustomed to the darkness. Dipper shielded his eyes form the sudden light until the door was only open a crack, letting light come in, but still not enough to exactly make out where he was.

Dipper shifted his attention back to the man who had entered the room, Mindscape. He was still in his suit made of black and gold leather. The black, tight leather pants and the long, hooded steampunk military jacket that covered a black, leather vest both had golden accents. His boots, however, were simply black, with no colorful accents. The mask that he wore underneath his black hood that was rimmed with gold was unnecessarily wide in length, making room for an extra eye above his glabella.

Mindscape sat down next to Dipper on the edge of the bed, Dipper had just now noticed the silver tray he held in his hands as he set it on his lap. It was cluttered with gauze, needles, thread, a knife, alcohol, some cotton, tweezers and some tape.

"What is all of that for?" Dipper asked, both curious and nervous.

Mindscape picked up the knife and cut through Dipper's pant leg to provide enough access for him to work. Dipper cried out in protest, but the other didn't seem to care, "To clean and patch up your wound. That guy had a fat thumb and no self-control whatsoever." he told Dipper as he set the tray on a night stand and grabbed the alcohol after he'd turned on a light that sat on the small table.

"What are you- _ah_!" Dipper screeched as Mindscape ruthlessly poured the stinging liquid over his exposed flesh. It burned and Dipper's arms instinctively moved to push the other away from him, but it appeared as though Mindscape anticipated this and held out his other arm to push Dipper down before he could try anything.

Mindscape put the alcohol back on the tray and grabbed the tweezers next and Dipper paled and froze. He looked up at the vigilante with pleading eyes, "Why are you- no, d-don't!" Dipper bit down on his lip as the man dug the tweezers into the bullet wound and began twisting and turning it.

_Oh god, he's digging out the bullet. Oh, this is so much more painful than the movies depicted._

"Ah-ha." Mindscape whispered and narrowed his eyes in concentration, digging a little further and positioning the tweezers just right so he could grab the bullet. Mindscape squeezed the tweezers and pulled them out, but the tweezers lost their grip and let go of the bullet. Just when Dipper managed to quiet down his screams. Dipper whined in pain and Mindscape sighed, "Fuck," he cursed, "you bleed too much." he added and dove back in to grab the bullet once again, sending more shock waves of pain throughout Dipper's body as the tips of the tweezers rubbed against and broke injured flesh.

It felt like an eternity before Mindscape finally grabbed the bullet and successfully pulled it out. He grinned brightly, "There we go, that wasn't too bad." he said and patted Dipper's inner thigh.

He moved to grab the alcohol once again and Dipper shook his head violently, "No-no, stop." he moaned desperately in a pleading voice.

Mindscape only smiled down at him as he poured more of the liquid into his thigh. Dipper screamed, thin strings of saliva that had gathered breaking as he opened his mouth and tossed his head back against the pillow that was under his head. Dipper bit down on his lip until it bleed, but his screams still persisted.

"Gosh, kid. You're really a screamer. If you don't quiet down people are going to think I'm murdering somebody... or fucking them." the man muttered as he set the alcohol down once again--hopefully for the last time--and grabbed the cotton, lightly dabbing it on Dipper's wound to clean up the blood and alcohol, leaving only the hole and the angry red color surrounding it.

 _This isn't too bad,_ Dipper thought, ignoring the villain's raunchy comment and trying to convince himself more than anything, _this is okay, come on. You're Dipper Pines, you're strong, don't show weakness in front of the enemy,_  he told himself, and with those thoughts, he held his tongue and tried his best to hold in his cries of agony.

"There, ya' see? That's not too hard." he teased. Dipper opened his eyes only to glare at the other.

Mindscape reached over and picked up the alcohol, and for a second, he was terrified, but relief flooded him as he watched the other pick up a needle and use the alcohol to disinfect it. After he was sure it was sterile, he picked up the pre-cut plastic thread and skillfully wove it through the eye on the first try. He tied it and moved backwards to straddle Dipper's legs.

"On the count of three." he said, "One." the other man broke his promise and punctured Dipper skin with the needle, making him yelp more in surprise than pain.

Mindscape continued to stitch Dipper up while the boy underneath him tried his best to keep quiet, and he believed he was doing an okay job at that. Only letting out small whimpers here and there when the vigilante would puncture his skin again or make a sudden movement while the needle was still embedded into his flesh.

Dipper was immensely relived when the man reached over and grabbed the knife, swiftly cutting the thread and then tying it until he felt it was secure. He grabbed the cotton and pressed it down on the wound. He reached over to the tray and grabbed the tape and taped the cotton onto the stitches. He topped everything off with a thick layer of gauze. He looked up at Dipper, "There you go. It might not be good enough for the wound to actually heal correctly, but it will suffice. Just try and get some professional help with it." he advised.

"How did you know what to do? Why do you have this stuff?" Dipper couldn't stop himself from asking.

"Kid, I have powers, but healing isn't one of them." he laughed lightly.

Dipper was quiet for a moment. He knew what he should do, he could hear a tiny voice in the back of his head that sounded a lot like Mabel's screaming at him to do it, but he didn't want to. Mindscape was a villain held accountable for probably hundreds of deaths, and he didn't deserve it, but still...

"Th... thank you." Dipper whispered reluctantly, refusing to look at the other. He might have stooped low enough to thank him, but he wasn't going to look at the _thing_ as he did.

"Ah, I thought you'd never say those words. Who knew you were actually a decent person?" Mindscape snickered.

Dipper scoffed, "I'm plenty of a decent person, just not to people that don't have an ounce of humanity in them." Dipper said insolently.

"Well, you thanked me. So does that mean you see my humanity?" the other asked playfully.

"What?"

Mindscape crawled further up Dipper's body and closer to his face, making the other uncomfortable. The villain grinned, "Oh, we were meant to be. You say I'm a monster, but you see the humanity in this monster." Dipper winced as he felt the cold latex of Mindscape's glove touch his cheek, "However, we could never be. I was a corrupt soul, and you were too pure for me. If you were to stay, surely you would become corrupt as well." the other snapped his hand back and pressed it against his forehead, dramatically arching his back and closing his eyes.

"What are you on?" Dipper asked.

Mindscape opened his eyes and playfully glared at the other. "You're humorless." he said.

Dipper glared, "Get off of me." he spat. The other shrugged but thankfully climbed off of Dipper without any complaints. "I want to go home." Dipper demanded.

"Okay."

His answer confused Dipper, "Y-you're just going to... to let me go?" he asked.

"Sure, where do you live?" Mindscape asked.

"I'm not disclosing that information." Dipper said.

"Smart kid." Mindscape commented. He sighed and looked around, "Okay, I suppose I'll just take you near where I picked you up. Don't want to get too close though; the police could already be there by now. I can't really have you knowing where I live." he looked around thoughtfully.

 _Wait, he actually took me to his actual house? I could actually find out where Mindscape lives! I just-_ Dipper stopped his thinking as he saw Mindscape reach into the night stand's drawer and pull out a black, silk blindfold.

"Why do you have that?" Dipper asked.

Mindscape winked.

Dipper felt sick, "Oh god." he whispered. Mindscape bellowed with laughter.

Mindscape walked over to him and tied the blindfold behind Dipper's head. Dipper yelped in surprise when he felt arms under his knees and his shoulders as he was lifted off of the soft bed and into the warm arms of the villain. Dipper wrapped his arms loosely around the other's neck. _For insurance,_ he told himself.

When Dipper felt the wind a little while later, he felt a lot safer. Mindscape wasn't going to keep him. He was going to be free, and he would be fine. It was a little while before Dipper felt the wind slow and his feet touched the ground. Dipper felt the blindfold being untied behind him until it was eventually pulled away. Dipper looked around, the area was somewhat familiar.

Dipper swallowed his pride and turned around to thank the man again, but Mindscape was gone.

 

* * *

 

Dipper blearily opened his eyes when he heard faint music playing, slowly getting louder and louder as he woke up more.

Dipper turned on his side and reached for his phone. He swiped to turn the alarm off and set the phone back on the night stand. He then rolled back on his back and plopped his head back on to the pillow. Dipper breathed deeply and sighed before opening his eyes again and staring up at the shapes on the beige ceiling. _It should be white,_ he thought to himself, as he often did.

Dipper turned his head to look over at his phone, once again reaching over and pressing the power button. 8:17, it read. Dipper sighed again and looked back up at the ceiling. He really needed to get going, but he just wanted to stay in bed and fall back asleep.

He had come home last night at about one, and the mixture of recent event and his insomnia only had him staying wide-eyed at the ceiling, trying to process what had just happened to him. He still found it extremely hard to believe.

With another deep breath of air, Dipper forced himself up and out of his bed. He swung his legs over the side and pushed himself up. He attempted to stand, but his leg gave out on him, and with a cry, he fell to the ground. Dipper shakily stood, using his bed for balance and walked over to the bathroom, leaning on the wall as he did so and turning the shower on. Then, he took his shirt off and threw it in the sink. He did the same with his pants and underwear. He looked at the blood and the hole on his pants with a sour expression. He liked those jeans.

Dipper looked down at his bandage as he felt a sheen gather on his skin from the steam coming from the hot water. How was he supposed to shower with that? He shouldn't get it wet, right? That seemed logical.

Dipper looked around briefly before he walked out of the bathroom and grabbed his phone. He quickly looked up a few futile searches before he finally found something.

"Try to keep your stitches dry for at least 48 hours after surgery." he read aloud, "Well, I didn't have surgery, but I suppose it still applies, but how do I keep it dry." Dipper looked around his room, scanning for something to possibly wrap his leg in to keep it dry. An idea popped into Dipper's head: "Saran wrap." he whispered to himself.

Dipper walked into his small kitchen and pulled the box of saran wrap out of the drawer he kept it in. It wasn't the best idea, but, hopefully, it would suffice.

Dipper wrapped his upper thigh thickly, making sure to spread it wide so if any water got in, it would hopefully thin out before it reached his wound.

Once Dipper was satisfied, he cut the saran wrap and secured it with some tape. He stared at the wrapping for a few seconds before deciding to tape the top and bottom as well. Better safe than sorry, Mabel's voice rang in his head.

Dipper put the saran wrap away and quickly walked over to the shower. The hot water had been running for a while and he had taken quite some time wrapping his leg, so if he didn't hurry, he would be late, and Mabel always chastised him for any tardiness.

Dipper quickly washed himself and hopped out of the shower. He peeled off the saran wrap and gently pat himself dry with a towel before wrapping said towel around his hips and walking into his bedroom.

He quickly pulled out a random t-shirt and a pair of shorts; he knew Mabel would want to see the wound and shorts would make it easier. People might stare at him weird for wearing such informal attire to a high profit fashion design company, but Dipper didn't care. This was his last day working this job and he knew he would have to dress better when he was working under Mr. Cipher, and besides, casual Friday.

Dipper grabbed his phone and shoved it in his pocket, then he pulled on his sneakers and grabbed his bag, quickly making his way to the front door. When he opened it, he was immediately attacked by the ruthless bite of the cold.

Dipper shivered and slammed the door shut. He walked over to his bedroom and pulled out a thick, black jacket, tugging it on before heading back out again.

Dipper pulled out his phone and checked the time. 8:52.

_Shit!_

Dipper ignoring the burning sensation in his leg and quickened his pace to a light jog. Cars were too expensive, and the bus had already left, Dipper really wished he had enough money to buy a car. He would just have to save up. He might be able to, with this new job and all.

Speaking of the job, today should be the day he figures out exactly how much his pay will be. He was excited to tell Mabel.

Dipper sighed of relief when he saw Providence Corp. come into view. He pulled out his phone and checked the time once more. _9:13, that isn't too bad._ Dipper thought to himself as he walked up the doors.

His last day working in this department. He would miss his job. It wasn't a bad one, all he was was an assistant for the photographers. He liked doing all of those things, he was briefed on what he would be doing for Mr. Cipher, accepting and making phone calls, setting business meeting agendas, sending memos, accepting visitors, reviewing incoming reports and setting the his daily schedule. It wasn't too different from his previous job of scheduling photo shoots, scouting shooting locations, making sure everything was going smoothly, and things of the like. It seemed easy enough, but at the same time it seemed horribly tough.

Dipper past the reception desk and frowned when he saw Wendy sitting there in place of the usual older woman.

Dipper walked up to her. "Hey," he greeted, "what are you doing working reception?" he asked.

Wendy looked up at him and smiled, "Oh, hey Dip. I'm just filling in for Miranda for a few hours. She said she had something really important and she showed me how to do everything." she explained.

"That's nice of you, but don't you have a shoot today?" Dipper asked. He posed it as a question, but he already knew the answer, he was photographing it, after all.

"Yeah, but she said she'd be back around lunchtime, and my shoot isn't until three, so I've got plenty of time. It's fine, Dipper. Don't stress over this, I got this, dude." she grinned and reached across the desk to punch his upper arm lightly, at least to her.

Dipper laughed lightly and rubbed his arm, "Okay. See you at three then." he said and waved goodbye to the redhead, who smiled and waved back.

Dipper walked over to the elevator and pushed the button to take him up after he waited for it to come down. He leaned against the cool glass and sighed, "Last day, huh?" _Everything will be fine, I'll still be able to see Wendy and Soos, it's not like I'll be in another building than them._

Dipper had grown used to his usual model and the maintenance man, Soos, over the few short years that he's worked at Providence Corp., and even Soos's wife, Melody. She was nice, and about to have a baby. Dipper was excited for the both of them.

Candy, a fashion stylist, had grown to like Dipper more than he liked her, although he didn't necessarily dislike her. Mabel always says to give her a shot, but he doesn't want to look for anyone just yet, and besides, Candy kind of unsettles him.

Mabel seems to like her though, and apparently so does Candy. Candy has a friend who works at the hospital Mabel is staying at, and she sometimes works with Mabel.

Dipper was brought back to reality when the elevator chimed and the doors opened. Dipper pushed off of the glass and walked out of the elevator.

_Just nine more hours left of working in my department. Just nine more hours..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for any inconsistencies, mistakes or incorrect information. I've tried to cram a bunch of information into my head over the past couple of days and I am a major novice when it comes to this whole CEO/executive assistant crap. If you guys have any pointers or information, please feel free to share it with me. I would love for this fic to be as accurate as possible and I feel like I haven't done quite as much research as I should have done.
> 
> Thank for so, so much for reading and remember, I love hearing your comments and if you noticed any mistakes at all please tell me. :)


	3. "So attractive he could make asexuals swoon."

Dipper hesitated as the elevator doors opened before him. _Should I really tell Mabel about my leg? Sure, I will tell her about the incident, but being shot? She would have a heart attack! But then how would I tell her about the after events?_ Dipper groaned in frustration and stepped out of the elevator before the doors could close before he could leave.

Dipper walked over to where Mabel's room was but stopped at the nurses' station where Pacifica was sitting. She looked up at him as he stopped in front of her, "Hey Dipper, what's up?" she asked, raising an eyebrow and looking around before her eyes finally settled on him.

"I need your help." he said, his expression solemn and serious, which scared Pacifica a little.

"W-with what?" she asked, her voice shaky as she took her hand off of the mouse and clasped her hands together in her lap under the desk.

Dipper looked around nervously. He didn't know if he was technically allowed to do what he was about to do, but fuck it all if he was going to risk other people seeing. So Dipper quickly moved and came inside of the nurses' station and stood next to Pacifica.

"Dipper! You can't just-" Pacifica was silenced as Dipper pulled up his left pant leg, revealing the bandage underneath.

"With this." he said.

"...What is it?" she asked.

"It's an injury. Come on, you're supposed to be the nurse, Paz." he teased sarcastically.

Pacifica looked up at him and glared, "I _know_ it's an injury, I want to know what _kind_ of injury it is and _how_ you got it." she spat with narrowed eyes and looked back down at his leg.

"It's a bullet wound." Dipper answered truthfully, ignoring her second question.

"What?!" she shrieked as her head flicked up to stare at him wide-eyed. Her mouth was agape as she stared at him, "How did you get a _bullet wound_?" she asked.

"A bullet." he answered.

Pacifica glared at him once again, "And why were you shot, smartass?" she asked.

"That's not important." he said, not wanting to answer her question.

"I'm not helping you unless you tell me, Dipper." she said stubbornly.

Dipper sighed, "Okay, okay, just don't tell Mabel about the wound... I got it from a group of criminals, I think."

"You think?" she asked, confused.

"Yeah, I was walking home last night when I ran into these guys, I think there were four of them, and I was curious, so I got closer and they threatened to kill someone and pulled out guns so I got scared and they noticed me. One of the guys shot me." he finished, not wanting to tell her the rest of the story.

"What? Then how did you get away?" she asked.

"I didn't really. The guys were killed." he told her.

"Killed?! You killed them?"

Dipper looked around worriedly, "N-no! No, I didn't kill them. The guy they were talking to did! He was also the one who patched me up. Do you really think I would be able to do this?" he asked, motioning to his leg.

"What exactly did he do?" she asked, pulling over a chair and patting it in a silent order for Dipper to sit. He did, and Pacifica rolled up his pant leg and looked up at him expectantly.

"You mean the whole procedure he did?" Dipper asked and Pacifica nodded, "Um, he poured some alcohol on the wound and then dug the bullet out with some tweezers."

"Did he sterilize the tweezers?" she asked curiously as she unwrapped the gauze.

"I don't know, I thinks so? There was kind of a hole in my leg that was stinging from alcohol so it was a little hard to focus." Dipper answered.

"I was just asking." she defended herself and Dipper nodded, "Then what did he do?" she asked.

Dipper squinted his eyes in concentration, trying his best to recall everything Mindscape had done, "He poured some more alcohol on it and dabbed it clean with some cotton. Then... then he stitched it up-"

"Did he sterilize that?" she asked, the grin easy to hear in her voice.

"Yes." Dipper answer, biting his lip in annoyance.

"This is very fine stitching." Pacifica commented, "Just who is this dude?"

"I-I don't know." Dipper lied, "Does that mean you don't have to redo it?" he asked hopefully.

"No, I don't think so. Did he do anything else special?" she asked.

"No, not that I know of. He just put some more cotton there and wrapped it in gauze." Dipper answered.

"Okay, I don't think there is anything I can really do for you, other than give you some advice and maybe some painkillers." she told him and sat back up, meeting his eyes.

"Okay, that'd be helpful." Dipper laughed humorlessly.

"What you can do is change the bandage maybe twice a day, until it's been... say three days. After that, change it daily. A doctor would probably recommend using an ointment or something like that, but I'm not a doctor and I don't really care so you don't necessarily have to. I can check on the stitches every couple of days and decide when it's best to remove them. I'd say two weeks tops. Also, try to keep it dry until Sunday." she said. Dipper nodded as she finished her instructions.

"If you have any other questions, you can come ask me, okay?" she told him and smiled at him, in which Dipper returned. She suddenly frowned though as she looked back down at the wound, "That is pretty large, though. For a bullet wound, that is." she said and Dipper froze.

"Oh, that's uh... that's because the guy... dug his thumb into it." Dipper whispered.

Pacifica's face recoiled and she stared at him in horror, "Oh my god! That sound _so_ painful." she exclaimed and Dipper nodded.

"Yeah, it really was."

It was quiet between the two before Pacifica broke the silence, "I'm sorry, Dipper. I can't imagine dealing with what you went through. It sound traumatizing... are you okay?" she asked, lightly resting her hand on his knee of his uninjured leg.

Dipper shook his head, but he wore a smile, "No, not really. I'll get through it tough, and I really don't want Mabel to worry about me. Please don't tell her." he pleaded and looked up at her, his eyes pleading just as much as his voice.

Pacifica pressed her lips into a thin line, but nodded her head, reluctantly so, "I won't tell her if you don't want me to. That doesn't mean I don't think you should tell her, though." she added at the end.

"I know. Maybe I'll tell her when it's healed and she doesn't have to worry about it. I know she'll be angry, but I'd rather her be angry at me than worry. She worries too much."

"She really does." Pacifica agreed, looking in the direction Mabel's room was. She smiled, "That not such a bad thing, though. I think you're lucky to have someone who cares about you so much." she told him.

"Pacifica."

"No, it's fine. I'm just stating it as I see it." she said and looked back to him. Her eyes held no hostility, only mild envy.

"That's not how I see it." Dipper said and Pacifica tilted her head curiously, "Mabel cares about you just as much." Dipper told her and she blushed bashfully.

"That's not true." she denied.

"It is though."

"W-whatever." she said, tilting her chin up and pursing her lips, "Go in there and see here before she starts pressing the nurse button over and over and over again because she's lonely."

"She does that?" Dipper asked, half joking, half concerned.

"Sometimes, it's hard to tell if she's serious or not though." Pacifica answered, "Now go." she ordered and shooed him away, "I'll put some complimentary bandages in your bag later, on the hospital." she grinned.

Dipper smiled, "Thanks, Pacifica." he said and walked over to Mabel's room.

"You owe me." she called.

"I thought telling you was payment enough." Dipper answered, getting only a snicker in reply.

Dipper opened the door to Mabel's room after he had knocked and got the OK to enter. Mabel's head turned from staring out the window, instead opting to look over at him and a wide grin spread across her lips.

"Dipper!" she exclaimed excitedly.

"Hey, sorry I'm a little late." he apologized, rubbing the back of his neck.

"You should be, come and sit down." she said and scooted over to make some room for Dipper on the hospital bed.

Dipper nodded and walked over to her, kicking off his sneakers and climbing into bed with her.

"So, how was your day today?" she asked eagerly.

"Pretty normal... last night was pretty eventful though." he began. Mabel gave him a weird look. Dipper sighed, "Last night, I may or may not have ran into... him." he whispered and Mabel gasped.

"You don't mean-"

"Yeah, I do."

"A-are you okay?" she asked, concerned.

"Y-yeah... surprisingly."

"What happened?" she asked. Dipper knew it was coming, but that didn't mean he wanted to keep reliving the past.

"Well, um... I was walking home from the hospital when I ran into these guys. Well, no, they were in an alley way and I was curious."

"Dipper!" she exclaimed and smacked his shoulder.

Dipper rubbed his stinging shoulder, "Ow! Sorry, sorry, I was curious! I couldn't help it." he defended himself.

"Excuses, excuses." she said with a deep frown.

"Whatever, anyway, the guys seemed to be talking to someone, whom I now know was Mindscape, but I didn't know at the time. The guys threatened to kill him and pulled out guns and I freaked out. The guys looked over at me and sort of held me hostage, until Mindscape... saved me."

"He saved you." Mabel's tone was disbelieving.

"I know, I'm still a little confused about everything." Dipper admitted.

"Then what did he do?" she asked.

"He uh... he k-killed the guys?" it came out as more of a question than a statement.

Mabel's face morphed into something akin to disgust and horror, "And you had to see that?"

"N-no. My face was pressed against his neck and we were in the air. All I saw afterwards was their bodies, which was still a little traumatizing." he corrected her.

"Oh, well I'm glad you didn't have to _see_ it, but that's still horrible." she said and Dipper nodded in agreement.

"Yeah." he said.

"And then he let you go?" she asked.

"Yeah." Dipper nodded.

"Well, I'm glad you're safe." she said with a smile.

"Yeah, me too."

"Stop saying 'yeah' so much." she complained and bumped her shoulder lightly against his.

"Sorry." he apologized with a toothy grin.

"You're not forgiven." she said and stuck her nose up into the air, making Dipper laugh, as well as Mabel a few seconds later.

"So, do you have any more drawings?" Mabel asked and clapped her hands excitedly when Dipper nodded, "Show me, show me!"

Sunday rolled around quicker than Dipper wished it would. Dipper didn't want to go and Mabel didn't want him to leave either.

"Can't you stay just one more night?" she pleaded.

"I can't Mabel, you know I can't. I have to get my sleep so that tomorrow I'll be prepared for whatever Mr. Cipher throws my way." Dipper explained, well knowing that Mabel already knew this. She didn't want to cause more trouble for him, she just wanted to spend more time with him.

"Fine." she pouted, crossing her arms over her chest and harrumphing like a child.

"I'll see you tomorrow." he promised and kissed her forehead. Dipper pulled away and Mabel followed him with her eyes.

"Bye." she said sadly as Dipper slung his bag over his shoulder.

"Goodbye, Mabel." Dipper smiled and waved to Mabel before walking over to the door.

"Stay out of trouble, for real this time!" she hollered and Dipper snickered.

"Will do." he called back before the door closed softly behind him and Mabel was left alone. Just like she always was.

Mabel looked over at the window, staring into the starless sky wistfully.

Dipper frowned and opened his eyes when he heard a familiar, loud and definitely unwanted sound. Dipper closed his eyes and tried to ignore it, but it was loud and persistant, and it hurt his head that was fogged with sleep and made it pound whenever there was a sudden noise, which was every second or so.

Finally, Dipper grew tired of the sound and reached over to shut it off, signing contently when he was met with silence. Dipper stared up at the ceiling, like he did every morning, looking at all of the different shapes in the ceiling and all of the moldy and stained spots.

Dipper got up and tore off his shirt, throwing it behind him haphazardly and walking to the bathroom. Once inside, he took off his underwear, which he had slept in - he wasn't one for sleeping with pants on - and turned on the shower. He carefully peeled the bandages off before hopping in and washing himself, mindful to be careful with his stitches.

Pacifica checked them out before he left, she said they were healing quickly. He was glad; he didn't want to be bothered by his leg to much while working with Mr. Cipher.

Dipper washed the soap out of his hair and turned off the water, quickly stepping out of the shower and drying himself carefully.

Once satisfied, he wrapped the towel around his waist and moved into his room, where he picked an outfit from his closet. The outfit was a simple one, consisting of only black trousers, a blue dress shirt and a pair of black dress shoes. They should be a little tight on him, since they were bought a little while ago and he didn't buy many clothes ever since Mabel was emitted to the hospital, but he had lost some weight while trying to save money for the hospital fees, so they would do.

Dipper walked back into the bathroom and combed through his wet hair. He stared at his reflection for a minute.

Mabel was wrong. He totally didn't need a haircut.

Dipper put the comb back in its drawer and walked out of the bathroom. Cologne was too expensive, so he didn't have any, but that was fine. He didn't think he smelled that bad, the shower soaps would hopefully mask any smelly odors.

Content with himself, Dipper moved to grab his phone, but checked the time before putting it in his pocket. It was 7:48. He didn't technically have to be at work until nine, so he should be fine.

Dipper still decided to leave. It wasn't like he had anything entertaining to do at his small apartment. The only entertainment electronic he own was a cellphone, and he was forced by his work to get that. If he really needed to, he could always use the computer at work or go to a public library. He was happy to give things up for his sister, if she was happy, then so was he.

So Dipper left his apartment, locking the door behind him, and continuing on his way. He decided to walk to exercise his leg. It wouldn't be too bad, Pacifica had loaned him a cane from her father, she said he had many so it would be fine as long as he returned it.

Pacifica had been really helpful to Dipper. He ought to get her something for her kindness, but what would she like? Maybe he could talk to Candy or Grenda about it.

Dipper began to lean on the cane more as his thigh began to ache and throb. Dipper saw a bench and was thankful for it, deciding to take a break. He sat down and leaned the cane against his left leg, rubbing lightly around his stitches. Pacifica said not to scratch it, and he found that very hard, but he stopped himself from doing so nonetheless.

Once a few minutes had passed, as well as the dull ache, Dipper got up and began walking again.

 _It's good for your leg, it's good for your leg, it's good for your leg,_ was the mantra he was repeating inside his head to get him through the walk. Dipper didn't want to think about what the walk to the hospital would be like, and then back to his apartment.

It was going to be a long day.

 

* * *

 

As it turns out, Mr. Cipher was the type of person who liked to be fashionably late. Dipper had ended up waiting for him to get to the office until around ten. It was unprofessional of him, but Dipper held his tongue. It wasn't his place.

When Mr. Cipher did arrive however, it was quite obvious as to why he was so late. He looked utterly charming. Practically drop-dead gorgeous. So attractive he could make asexuals swoon.

He was dressed in tight, black trousers, but unlike Dipper's they were meant to be tight, and they looked good. Underneath his black, unbuttoned suit jacket that had a yellow handkerchief in the pocket, he wore a grey wool waistcoat, and a white dress shirt with thin, delicate black and gold strips. His outfit was completed with a black and yellow striped necktie and black dress shoes.

His outfit made Dipper's seem like he ripped it off of a homeless man in the ghetto, but that wasn't what made him so attractive. No, his was him in general. Dipper was confident he could wear nothing but a ballerina's tutu and make it look sexy.

His body build was firm and muscular, clearly showing through despite his many layers of clothing. He was tall, most of his height coming from his long legs. His trousers were probably fitted or even custom made to accommodate his height. His shoulders were broad, but his waist was small, Dipper imagined Mabel would describe him as triangular, maybe even a Dorito.

His jawline was strong, square and defined, even the neck holding his head was beautiful, in its own sense. His lips were thin and naturally curled into a smile. His cheekbones were high and pronounced, and his nose was thin and straight. His eyes, oh his eyes; they were such a piercing blue mixed with gold, matching his outfit surprisingly well. Atop his eyes were dark, arched eyebrows, accentuating his face shape and eyes well.

His hair was a sandy blonde with dark lowlights and the roots were a dark brown, indicating that his hair was dyed, but it was still beautiful as it was brushed back and gelled, but it wasn't clumped like Dipper's hair was whenever he tried gel. It was more smooth and soft looking, like it was naturally back like that.

All in all, he was attractive. Way more attractive than Dipper had anticipated. He must have gotten his looks from his mom, because his father wasn't known for being attractive. Also, his father was a natural blonde.

"Stop staring, it's rude. Seriously, who raised you?" his deep voice interrupted Dipper's inward contemplation of his sexuality. His insult reminded him of Thursday's events, making his body tense up.

"I-I wasn't-"

"Say what you will, you can deny it all you want, but you were staring and we both know it. Oh well, I guess it's just part of the curse that comes with being this handsome. Now," he started and turned to the man beside him who Dipper remembered as the man from a few days ago, who offered him the job. Warnis, Dipper thought was his name, "where is my assistant I requested for?" he asked, looking around as if a person would suddenly pop into existence beside him, asking what he can do for Mr. Cipher.

"This is him." Warnis said bitterly, looking Dipper up and down. He seemed thankful that Dipper at least tried to dress up, although it was a pretty failed attempt. His clothes barely fit him, and they were very wrinkled. "This is-"

"Dipper," Dipper answered before Warnis could tell Mr. Cipher his real name, "Dipper Pines. Pleasure to meet you." he said, sticking his hand out and trying to be polite and formal to the man despite his embarrassment.

Mr. Cipher smiled, "Oh, the pleasure is all mine. William Cipher, and please, call me Bill." he said and took Dipper's hand, shaking in in a firm grip, showing his dominance.

"Well, I'll leave you two be. Mr. Cipher, you know where your office is, correct?" Warnis asked.

"It's the same as my father's, right?" he asked and Dipper stood up.

"Yes, that is correct."

"Then yes, I'll be fine." he said and began walking. Dipper's eyes widened at the fast pace Mr. Ci- Bill was walking at and he hurried to keep up with him. His calves burned and Bill was still walking a little faster than Dipper. _Tall people,_ Dipper spat venomously in his mind.

"The first few hours should be pretty easy for you, but once I start getting some work done, I'll need you to do a couple things for me, but we'll cross that bridge when we get there. For now you can just sit on the couch and I'll leave you to your own devices... there's a couch, I think. I'm not really sure, I haven't been in his office in a few years. Whatever, there should be a couch, if there's not, I'll get one soon enough, as well as a desk, if there isn't one already. You'll probably need one of those. Oh well, you can just sit on my lap until then." he winked and elbowed Dipper not-so-lightly.

"No thanks." Dipper refused politely and Bill pouted playfully.

"You're no fun." he sighed and shoved his fisted hands in the pockets of his trousers as he turned a corner and walked into the elevator to take him up. Dipper's eyes bulged as Bill hit the button labeled 14, the top floor.

"You're office is on the top floor?" Dipper asked.

"Well, yeah, I'm the CEO and the top floor is kind of the floor of power, I guess." he shrugged.

Dipper stared at him, "You don't know much about this, do you?" Dipper asked.

"What? That's not true, I know exactly what I'm doing." he denied, waving Dipper off.

"Really? And what is that you're supposed to be doing?" Dipper asked doubtfully, raising his eyebrows.

"My job, which is to order you around, and not the other way around. Don't patronize me, kid."

"I'm not patronizing you I'm just asking a simple question." Dipper denied.

"Yeah, and you're question is whether or not I know how to do my job correctly. You think you could do it better?" he asked.

"Well, it's your first official day and you haven't really done anything but tease me, so yeah, as of right now, I do."

Instead of getting angry like Dipper thought he would, Bill laughed. The sides of his lips curled up and his eyes crinkled. It was a surprise to say the least.

"You've got a good point." Bill said before stopping in front of a large, oak door with a black, rectangular name plate reading 'CIPHER' in bold, white letters. Dipper frowned as he noticed that there was only one small window, and that was only to the assistant's room. He supposed Bill's father was big on privacy, "Well, this is our stop." he said and opened the door. Bill looked to his left and his smiled dropped, morphing into a pout, "Aw, there is a couch and a desk. The offer still stands." he said and turned to Dipper with a hopeful grin. Dipper frowned as Bill motioned for Dipper to follow him into the next room, which was supposed to be his private office.

"In your dreams Cipher." Dipper said and sat down on a chair Bill patted on his way over to the desk and heaved a heavy sigh, putting the cane on the floor against the chair.

Bill sat down at his desk and lifted himself up before dropping back down on the chair a few times experimentally. He then looked over at Dipper, then at his cane that laid on the floor, "Why do you have a cane?" he asked curiously as he started up the computer that sat on the expensive looking desk.

"Huh?" Dipper looked down at the cane on the floor and realization crossed his face, "Oh, that. It's not really mine, a friend loaned it to me." Dipper stated.

"Why did your friend loan it to you?" he asked, a little annoyed. It seemed he was an impatient man.

"I got into an... accident... a few days ago. Nothing to worry about though, I can still work as I normally would." he tried to reassure the other when he saw a little fear creep into his eyes, but his words only seemed to make him even more unsettled. Dipper was nervous; would he fire him, or send him home and find a more suitable assistant? All Dipper has really done was insult the man, "I-I swear, I can do whatever you need."

"Dipper, I don't think-"

"Please, I really need this job Mr. Cipher." he pleaded.

"Okay now you're just making it seem like we're in a porno." Bill frowned and Dipper chuckled quietly.

"I suppose you're right, but in all seriousness, I really do need the money this job will give me." he said honestly.

"Why? What did you get paid before? Thirty thousand?" he asked.

"No, somewhere between forty and fifty thousand." he answered. He normally wouldn't have answered that, but this was his new boss and that was in the past.

"Then why do you need this money? Do you have a gambling problem or something? Family?"

"N-no, just really expensive bills." Dipper didn't really want answer, he didn't want to pull out the pity card, especially since Mabel was the pity card. He didn't want to use her like that, although it's not like he would be doing it for himself.

Bill didn't pry for further information, and for that, Dipper was grateful. Instead, he turned to his computer and began to go about his business. Dipper sat stiff for a few moments, unsure as of what to do until Bill looked up at him and he tensed even further.

"You can do as you like, unless you want to go get me a coffee. I just assumed you didn't want to be out there and not really doing anything since I won't have any visitors." he said.

"U-um, I'll go get you a coffee then. What would you like?" Dipper asked, grabbing the cane and standing up.

"Black, two sugars." he said and once Dipper nodded he turned his attention back to his computer.

Dipper walked out of the office and was trusting his memory to take him back to the elevator when he ran into Soos.

"Oh, hey Soos." Dipper greeted.

"Hey dude, what are you doing up here? Cool cane by the way." he said.

"Oh, thanks. I got a promotion. Do you know where the nearest break room is? I've never been up here."

"Yeah, I'll walk you there." he offered.

"Thanks." Dipper accepted and followed Soos as he turned around and motioned for Dipper to follow.

Dipper followed the man until he stopped in front of an oak door with a rectangular window in the upper left corner. Soos turned to him and smiled gleefully, "Here you go." he said.

"Thanks Soos." Dipper smiled at the man-child and his grin only grew wider before he left in the direction he came from.

Dipper walked into the room. There were only a handful of people in the room and only one by the coffee machine, which Dipper was thankful for. He didn't want to have to stay and wait any longer than necessary.

Dipper walked over to the coffee machine just as the person moved aside. He didn't know them, so he decided just to smile awkwardly instead of verbally greeting them. They didn't smile back. Dipper pursed his lips and grabbed a mug from the cabinet and poured some coffee into it before adding two packets of sugar, just like Bill had asked.

Dipper didn't bother to say any farewells as he left the room and walked in the direction Soos and he had come from. After a few minutes and a few wrong turns, Dipper finally found his way back to Bill's office and knocked on the inner door out of habit.

"Come in." he heard Bill call from the inside and walked in, closing the door behind him.

"Here, plain black, two sugars." Dipper said and carefully laid the mug on his desk.

"Good. See, you're not a bad assistant." he said and smiled up at Dipper. Dipper was surprised at the compliment, but was happy nonetheless.

"Thank you." he whispered and turned around to sit back in the chair.

"Yeah, you have a nice ass. Not a bad assistant at all." he heard the man snicker from behind him.

"You're insufferable." Dipper grumbled and glared bitterly at the other, only receiving another snicker in reply.

Dipper sat on the chair once again and laid his cane down on the floor. He then pulled out some paper and a pencil out of his bag and began sketching. He had no real image in his mind, he was just sketching to sketch.

When Dipper was young, he found one of his great uncles journals, and inside were detailed drawings and descriptions of supernatural creatures, which gave Dipper an interest in journalism as well as art. He dabbled more in realistic drawing than Mabel, who enjoyed more animated drawings, but right now, Dipper lacked any inspiration or muse.

Until he looked up.

 _Bill,_ he thought, _he would make a nice model. Full eyebrows, piercing eyes, strong jaw, broad shoulders, soft, perfect hair._ No, he wouldn't make a nice model, he would make a _perfect_ one.

With his new found inspiration, Dipper looked down at his paper and twirled his pencil before pressing it lightly to the paper as an action of good luck he had formed a habit of doing before he drew.

Dipper discreetly sneaked chance glances up at the man as he drew, lifting only his eyes instead of his head as to draw as little attention to himself as possible.

First, Dipper drew his face shape, then he drew lines for proportions and drew his eyes, then his nose, then his mouth. Drawing that and trying to get it just right had taken quite some time. Dipper still carefully drew his neck then moved on to his hair. Dipper felt a strange need to make his hair absolutely perfect.

Once Dipper was satisfied, he moved on to shading. He chose a light source position and shaded carefully, making sure to get every dip and darkened skin just right. Once he had been working for a little longer than Dipper would like to admit, he heard a noise and looked up to see Bill walking over to him. Dipper instinctively turned to a random page more towards the front of his sketch book.

"W-what's up?" he asked nervously.

"I'm hungry and I don't like eating alone, so come." he ordered.

Dipper hastily shoved his pencil and sketch book in his bag, wincing when he heard a quiet 'snap', but not caring enough to check it out. Dipper stood up and followed the man quietly. He wanted to ask questions, but he held his tongue. He didn't want to be annoying.

Once they got into the elevator, Bill turned to him, "Do you care where you eat?" he asked and Dipper hesitantly shook his head, "Okay, that's fortunate, because I wouldn't care either way." he said and turned to face forwards again.

"Okay then." Dipper frowned as the doors opened and the two stepped out.

"Okay, try to keep up, shorty." Bill winked and began walking with a silently fuming Dipper following close behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't really like how Mabel was portrayed in this chapter, but it will have to do. I might go through this on a later date and change her scene a bit, but I don't want her to be seen as this silly, foolish, all funny business, childlike girl (even though that is somewhat how she is like in the show). I want her to have depth and development from her childhood. In the previous chapter I think I did a pretty good job of showing that, I'm pretty sure you guys got the idea that she was lonely, but yeah I think I will definitely change that scene. Maybe I'll do it tomorrow. I don't know. I'll tell you guys when I do if you want to go back and read it.
> 
> Comments, critiques, and kudos are greatly appreciated!
> 
> I don't have a lot to say, so until next time. :)


	4. "Do you want to be my sugar daddy or something?"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm rearranging the chapters. Please forgive me for getting your hopes up. I'll have another chapter up soon, though. I'm halfway through the next chapter. I will get it out as soon as possible.

As Dipper followed Bill outside of the building, people stopped what they were doing to stare at the two of them. Most gave Bill longing looks, while the rest looked at Dipper as if he were a piece of trash, an unwanted leach. Some even did both.

They were jealous. Almost everyone in this entire corporation would kill to be able to work directly under a Cipher, and this lowlife got this job easy-peasy? It wasn't fair, even Dipper knew that much. So many other people deserved this job, and Dipper wasn't one of them. He had had no desire to work under a Cipher, the thought hadn't even crossed his mind, but he was offered the position and told that he was the best suitor, and it wasn't like he could – or would – just turn it down.

Dipper was abruptly torn from his thoughts as he ran into Bill's back. A loud laugh came from Bill as a light blush crept up Dipper's neck, easily making its way to his cheeks.

"Sorry." he muttered.

Bill slowly stopped laughing, though his grin was far from gone from his features. "Come on, get in." he urged and it was only then that Dipper had noticed that he was holding the passenger door open for him. Dipper's eyes bugged out as he saw the car Bill was telling him to get into.

It was a sleek, black corvette, with tires rimmed with gold. The interior was just as nice, black leather, smoother than Dipper thought leather could even be. The only person he knew that had a car of this class was Pacifica, and she was a Northwest, so of course she had to drive the best of the best. Her parents might have disagreed with her career choice, but she still bore the name of a Northwest, and for a Northwest to look even the slightest bit impecunious was simply absurd, or so Pacifica put it. Dipper quickly shook himself out of his thoughts and looked up to meet Bill's unreadable expression.

"T-thank you." Dipper mumbled as he ducked his head and climbed into the car.

Dipper sat awkwardly in the car, feeling out of place, as he waited for Bill to get in. He found it a little strange that he was sitting in the passenger seat and not in the back. Shouldn't Bill sit here? Or maybe they should both sit in the back? Shouldn't there be a driver? Dipper was confused, to say the least.

He turned his head when Bill climbed into the driver's seat and put the key in the ignition, turning it and starting up the car.

"Why don't you have a chauffeur?" Dipper asked as the loud revving of the engine sounded around them.

"I don't like 'em. Only ever agree to have one on special occasions, like my old man's funeral, for instance." Bill explained, nonchalantly shrugging his shoulders.

"O-oh, sorry I didn't mean to-" Dipper began, but was cut off by Bill.

"It's fine, kid. Don't worry your pretty little head over it." Bill dismissed him and pulled out of the parking spot he was in.

Dipper looked up at the taller man, worrying his lip nervously before nodding his head and putting his safety belt on.

It wasn't long before Dipper found himself fearfully pressing himself against the chair and clenching his jaw from Bill's driving skills.

It wasn't as though he was driving as if he were drunk, he just speed... a lot. Dipper was extremely unnerved by how fast they were going. He desperately tightened his safety belt and gripped the handle on the door so tightly that his knuckled were snow white, trying to drill some insurance in his head that if Bill crashed, at least Dipper would be okay... he hoped.

Dipper didn't know if Bill was really going as fast as Dipper felt he was, Dipper was rarely in cars, and when he was it was normally a bus or a taxi, and they were usually pretty calm and steady, they kind of had to be, but Dipper still couldn't help but feel his heart pound loudly in his ears.

Dipper looked over and noted that Bill was going just under 60 miles per hour. Dipper looked out the window, his eyes searching for a speed limit sign. When Dipper did find one, his eyes widened as he read 'SPEED LIMIT 45'.

"D-don't you think you're going a little f-fast, Mr. Cipher?" Dipper managed to stutter out as he pulled harder on the safety belt. It was digging into his hips and chest, but he didn't care. In fact, he kept pulling on it, trying to get it as tight as humanly possible.

"Nah, we're fine," he waved the younger man off with an easygoing grin, "and I told you before, call me Bill."

"Okay, _Bill,_ could you please slow down a little?" Dipper asked, mentally patting his back for not stuttering. Dipper was rewarded with Bill pressing harder on the gas pedal. "Bill! Bill slow down please! _Please,_ I'm _begging_ you!" Dipper screeched as he pressed himself against the seat and his muscled tensed up.

Dipper felt he could breathe again when Bill slowed down, but he was still tense and grasping his too-tight safety belt desperately. Bill looked over at him, "Why are you so scared?" he asked, furrowing his eyebrows in genuine confusion as he took in Dipper's frightened state.

"Cars are dangerous." was Dipper's curt reply.

"...You're not in cars often, are you?" Bill asked.

"I don't think I've been in a car since last year. Maybe once or twice in a bus, but those don't really count." Dipper admitted without looking at the other.

Bill looked surprised, "Why not?" he asked.

"Because I don't have one."

"You don't have a car."

"No."

"Why?"

"Why do you think?"

"Ah, money issues." Bill tightened his lips and looked forwards. Dipper nodded, although he highly doubted the other could see him.

The rest of the car ride was silent. It wasn't necessarily awkward, but it wasn't comfortable. Dipper was still uneasy about being in the car and Bill appeared to be lost in his thoughts, but thankfully, he didn't dare to go as fast as he had started out again, and for that, Dipper was grateful.

Dipper was relieved when Bill slowed down and carefully pulled into a spot. _At least he takes parking seriously,_ Dipper thought as he unbuckled himself and got out of the car just after Bill had turned it off, and looked to where Bill was walking towards as he clicked a button on a rectangular device attached to the keys. Dipper yelped quietly when the car beeped loudly behind him and the headlights flashed a few times. Bill laughed at him.

Dipper glared at the other before he looked up at the sign above the restaurant. It was in some foreign language that Dipper couldn't understand. He believed the restaurant was Asian, so Dipper guessed it was an Asian language.

"Is this place expensive?" Dipper asked, still struggling to keep up with the taller man.

Bill looked over at him, "Is your mind always on money? Are you sure you don't have a gambling or a drug problem or something?" Bill asked incredulously.

"What? I told you I didn't. I just have really expensive bills." Dipper defended himself.

"Where do you live then?" Bill asked. He just didn't understand why the boy needed so much money.

"In an apartment." Dipper answered vaguely.

"An expensive apartment?" Bill asked as he held open the door for Dipper.

"No, just a normal one. Thank you." Dipper said and walked inside of the restaurant.

"Do you have a poor family or something?" Bill asked.

"I have a sister and a great uncle." Dipper replied.

"What's her name?" Bill asked as a black haired hostess greeted them with a warm smile and guided them to a table.

"Mabel." Dipper answered as he sat down across from Bill.

"Does she have a job or does she rely on you?" Bill asked.

"Um, she relies on me." Dipper answered. Bill seemed like he was getting close to an assumption and Dipper knew he couldn't lie to his boss if he make the correct one. He didn't really want people knowing about Mabel, so far he had only told Wendy, Soos and Candy, but Candy already knew since she was friends with Grenda, a nurse who Mabel had befriended.

"And what about your parents?" Bill asked.

"Divorced. Don't really talk to us anymore." Dipper answered. It wasn't that much of a sore subject for him anymore, so the answer came easily. A menu was handed to him.

"Oh, sorry. Well, don't worry about the price. It's on me." Bill said and looked down at the menu that was handed to him by the hostess.

Dipper looked up at him, confused. He was just going to drop the subject like that? Then, his word registered in Dipper's mind and he felt surprised.

"N-no, it's okay. You don't have to do-"

"Hush." was all Bill said as he continued looking at his menu.

Dipper opened his mouth to further protest, but decided against it. He didn't want Bill to pay for him, but when he glanced down at his own menu and saw the prices of the food, he knew he didn't have enough money to pay for it.

"Thank you." Dipper said. If he was going to rob the man of so much money, the least he could do was thank him.

"Don't mention it." Bill responded, not looking up from his menu.

Dipper looked down at his own menu and looked at all the options before quickly finding the most appealing and least expensive one. When the waitress came around Dipper ordered a water and Bill ordered an iced tea. She asked if they were ready, and when they both nodded she took their orders.

Bill ordered first, he ordered a sushi dish and Dipper ordered a sweet and sour chicken dish. With a smile, she told them their food would be there shortly and took their menus from them.

"So," Bill started once an awkward silence had settled between them that lasted for a few minutes, "where is your sister now?" he asked.

Dipper narrowed his eyes, "Are you paying for lunch so I feel compelled to tell you?" Dipper accused.

Bill grinned, "I don't know, do you feel compelled?" he asked. Dipper pressed his lips into a thin line. "Come on, kid, just tell me. I'm burning with curiosity and only you have answers, so just tell me."

"A few people in the office know where Mabel is." Dipper informed him without thinking and Bill raised his eyebrows and leaned back in his chair, relaxed.

"Do they now?" he said more than asked, "And who might these people be?" he asked, digging deeper for answers.

"Just some friends." Dipper said, avoiding actually answering.

"Just some friends?" Bill repeated in a questioning voice as he raised an eyebrow.

"Yes."

The waitress came over with their drinks and laid them in front of them, temporarily stopping their conversation.

Bill stared at him for a minute, not say anything, not doing anything, just staring, before he finally leaned forward and the corner of his mouth perked up into a lopsided smirk, "Just tell me where your sister, Mabel, is Dipper." he said. His tone was calm but demanding at the same time.

With a quiet sigh, Dipper looked down at his lap, "She's in the hospital." he confessed.

"The hospital?" Bill parroted, shock dripping from his tone like a wet towel being wrung.

"Yeah." Dipper nodded.

"Why is she in there?" Bill inquired. His voice was quieter now, softer, as if he were concerned.

"She um... she was involved in an accident." he said.

"What kind of accident?" Bill further pried.

Dipper signed and scratched at his under eye, "A little while ago, maybe four or five months ago, there was a really bad battle between Mindscape and some other guy with some wind powers. During the fight, there were a lot of bystanders, and one of them happened to be my sister. She was trying to help, she was trying to get as many people away from the fight as she possibly could. She had always been kindhearted like that, but during one of the other guy's attacks Mabel got involved."   Dipper took in a deep breath as he recalled the story. He never liked talking about it, it only brought back the memories he never wanted to remember.

"Were you there that night?" Bill asked quietly.

Dipper nodded, "I was- I was only a couple yards away. His attack just barely missed me. She was scooped up and slammed back down on the concrete... she was in a coma for a little over two months. It was torture, I-" Dipper stopped himself there. _You're using Mabel as a pity card,_ he told himself, "When she woke up the doctors said she needed to stay there for a little while to run tests and they wanted her to monitor her healing process so everything was done correctly. She can barely walk on her own for more than a minute or two." Dipper finished.

With every second that dragged on, Dipper was fidgeting more and more. He was tense, and he wished he didn't have to tell that story again. He had always wished it had been him that was hurt, and he still did, but then Mabel would just be hurt in a different way; he knew that, he really just wished that night had never happened.

"Sorry, I got a little too emotional." Dipper apologized and refused to meet Bill's gaze. He clasped his hands underneath the table.

"No, it's fine. Don't worry about it. I'm sorry about your sister, will she be discharged soon?" he asked.

Dipper nodded, "Hopefully within this month or the next." he answered.

"That's good." Bill nodded and sipped his drink.

It was silent between the two until the waitress came over with their food. They both thanked her and dug in.

A few minutes into their meal, Bill stopped eating and stared at Dipper, his gaze steady and scrutinizing. Dipper looked back at him, feeling uncomfortable.

"Yes?" he asked nervously.

"Your fashion sense is horrible." Bill commented, his eyes flicking down to stare Dipper's shirt.

"Wow, thanks." Dipper spat sarcastically.

"Wasn't a compliment." the right corner of Bill's mouth twitched up.

"Wasn't an appreciation." Dipper retorted.

Bill chuckled lightly before leaning over the table. "Let me take you shopping." he more demanded than offered.

"You just love hearing the words 'I don't have the money' come out of my mouth don't you? Do you want to be my sugar daddy or something?" Dipper joked but his smile faltered when Bill didn't laugh. "It was a joke, don't take it so seriously." Dipper said awkwardly.

"I didn't take it seriously, this is my face when I don't take things seriously." now Dipper was confused; was Bill serious or not?

"I... I don't-"

"My god, kid. I'm just joking. I don't want to be your sugar daddy or anything like that. I just want my executive assistant to at least look like an intelligent and functioning member of society. I mean seriously, kid, I'm the CEO of a major fashion franchise, and I need an assistant that looks the part, and if-"

"Okay, okay, I get it. We can upgrade my closet." Dipper agreed and threw his hands up defensively, tired of hearing the older man insult him.

"Good. I'll be at your house on Saturday morning to pick you up." Bill said, saying no more on the matter as he went back to eating his food, Dipper following suit.

The rest of the lunch was spent talking about things Bill had planned, and how Dipper would begin to start scheduling things for him.

Bill informed Dipper that he would be getting the boy a new phone - a smartphone - when he asked for Dipper's phone to give him his number and was met with an old blackberry phone.

Dipper might have been exhausted from having to deal with all of Bill's antics, but he still had a good time. After all, when was the last time he had such a nice meal, and not even having to pay for it? Dipper was floating above cloud 9. So he would just go with whatever Bill asked if it meant he got to keep this glorious job.

Hopefully, Bill wouldn't ask for a lot.

 

* * *

 

 

Dipper smiled and waved at Grenda, one of Mabel's frequent nurses, as he passed by the nurses' station on his way to see Mabel. She smiled toothily up at him and waved back energetically, "Hey Dipper, I haven't seen you around lately. Candy said you got a promotion?" she asked, her voice just as gruff and scratchy as ever and her thick eyebrows furrowing together questioningly.

"Yup, that's right." he answered.

"That's great! What are you doing as of now?" she asked, in was a commonly known fact that Dipper did whatever the company asked of him, as he always carried it out expertly, so getting different jobs for Dipper wasn't unusual.

"I'm working under Mr. Cipher as his executive assistant." he shrugged, as if that wasn't that impressive, but Grenda seemed to take it as a pretty big deal as her eyes bulged and her mouth fell open. Pacifica snickered quietly beside her but kept her eyes on the computer she was working on.

"Whoa, but isn't he the CEO?" she asked. Dipper nodded and she grinned, "Wow, this will really help a lot with Mabel, won't it?" she asked, though she already knew the answer.

"Yup," Dipper beamed, "and speaking of Mabel, I'm running a little late, so I should probably go see her before she tries to break out and drag me over by my ear." he joked lightly and both women laughed. "See you." he waved and walked away after the ladies waved back and said goodbye.

Dipper knocked on the door, only entering when he heard a voice permitting him to do so. Mabel's head was already turned towards the door, curious to see who knocked, and her eyes lit up when she saw Dipper standing in the doorway. "Dipper!" she exclaimed, a wide grin on her lips.

"Me!" Dipper grinned with just as much enthusiasm. Mabel pressed her lips together, but she couldn't fight off the smile that refused to leave her lips.

"Come 'ere." she ordered and motioned him over. Dipper obliged and set his bag on the floor next to her bed before climbing in with her, as she often insisted. "Tell me all about your first day as Mr. Cipher's assistant." she encouraged, smiled ever present as her eyes stared at him with an excited gleam and wiggled her eyebrows enthusiastically. "What was your first impression of him?" she asked when Dipper opened his mouth to say something.

Dipper had calculated the perfect story to tell her, not giving too much, and not giving to little. He had prepared for every question he believed she would throw his way, this being one of them, but still, he found the first words that came to mind spilling from his lips before he could stop himself.

"Hot." he deadpanned.

Mabel busted out laughing and Dipper blushed furiously, "I-I mean, h-he seemed supercilious and egotistical- w-which he is." Dipper quickly stuttered his originally planned response, but it seemed to have no effect as Mabel continued to laugh, her face turning red and her eyes squeezed shut as she slapped her knee with a fisted hand and wheezed, trying to catch her breath but failing as more choked laughter spilled form her lips.

Dipper should have felt majorly embarrassed, and he did, but as he watched Mabel's top lip slide up her straight, white teeth, he couldn't help but feel happy that Mabel was happy. Seeing her giddy smile was all he needed to feel smile as well, her bubbly personality naturally contagious.

"Oh my god, D-Dipper. _Wow_." she drew out the last word, still smiling widely and chuckling, but not laughing to the point where she could barely breathe anymore, "You _have_ to tell me what he looks like. Any guy to make you say that so quickly must put gods to shame." she said, her chuckles now quieted.

"He kind of does." Dipper agreed, his cheeks still holding a red tint.

"Describe him." she whined, playfully tugging on Dipper's arm impatiently.

"Okay, okay. Um, well, the first thing I really noticed about him was his eyes. They were so blue, I don't think I've ever seen eyes that blue, beautiful, deep, _piercing_..." he drew off, obviously thinking about the man's eyes.

"Go on." Mabel urged, eagerly elbowing him and drawing him out of his reverie.

"Yeah, sorry. He was blonde, his hair looked like it was made of strings of pure gold, but I noticed his roots were dark, so he must dye it." Mabel's snort interrupted him and he looked at her with a raised eyebrow, "What?" he asked, an edge to his tone.

"Okay, first of all, you sound like you're writing a really bad romance story in the point of view of the love struck girl; it's both adorable and sickening, and second of all, he dyes his hair?" she snorted again.

"What's wrong with that? I've dyed my hair before." Dipper said, purposefully ignoring her first statement.

"Yeah, but you were a teenager, and I dyed mine too, remember? I was blue, you were pink? A big 'fuck you' to society." she said.

"I regret that decision." Dipper said.

"Whatever, go on." she said.

"His hair was short on the sides but long here." he said and swiped his hand along the top of his head, moving it to the back.

"Oh my god, he's a fuckboy?" her eyes bulged.

"What? What's a fuckboy?" Dipper's eyebrows knitted together in confusion.

"Nothing! Continue." she demanded.

Dipper huffed but did as she asked, "Um, he had tan skin, but not really tan, he was like... he was like a Ritz cracker, but a little lighter."

"Seriously? Referring to him as food already? I guess that's just your way of saying he was delicious." she shrugged with a snigger and Dipper smacked her arm.

"Mabel stop interrupting me with your sexual comments."

"Can't stop, won't stop." she breathed, too fast for Dipper to fully comprehend what she had said, but knowing her enough to know he didn't want to know.

"I'm ignoring you from now on." he said.

"No!" Mabel squeaked, drawing out the word and latching on to his arm with a tight grip.

"Then stop interrupting me and let me explain to you what Bill looks like in however detailed descriptions I want.

"Isn't his name William?" she asked, and actual, legitimate question for once, much to Dipper's relief.

"Yes, he asked me to call him Bill." Dipper explained.

"Ooh, not only are you on a first name basis, but nicknames? You guys will totally get married. I'm imagining your children right now. They're both hideous and adorable at the same time."

"Mabel." Dipper grumbled.

"Sorry, sorry, I'll shut up." she apologized, offering him a weak grin.

"Sure." Dipper sarcastically spat, "Where was I?" he asked, having not the slightest clue where he left off due to Mabel's interventions.

"He has cracker skin." Mabel helpfully supplied. _At least she was listening_ , Dipper thought to himself.

"Right. Okay, his nose was really skinny, and his lips were really thin. His-" Dipper interrupted himself with a laugh. Mabel gave him a weird look, "I thought you would've described his as a Dorito or something. His shoulders were so broad, but his waist was so tiny." he giggled in a totally manly way.

Mabel joined his laughter, "Oh gosh, everything is coming together. I can see clearly now the rain is gone." she giggled and Dipper managed to give her a strange look.

"What is with you?" he asked, still laughing a little.

"Hmm?"

"You've been acting really weird lately, saying things that are weird and random- even for you." he elaborated.

"Oh! The internet is a wonderful place." she said.

Dipper furrowed his eyebrows, "How did you get on the internet?" he asked.

Mabel leaned over the bed on the opposite side of Dipper and grabbed something. She heaved a thin laptop onto her lap and looked up at him, "Pacifica has been bringing me her laptop to use to pass the time." she said.

Dipper eyebrows furrowed further in worry, "You haven't been talking to any strangers, have you?" he asked.

"What? No, of course not. At least not privately."

"What do you mean?" Dipper asked.

"Comments, Dipper. Comments." she said and carefully rested to laptop back on the floor.

"Oh." Dipper said.

"Keep going." she smiled.

"Oh, um, well, he was really tall, like, _really_ tall. I think I only came up to his shoulders." Dipper said.

"Damn," Mabel laughed incredulously, "but you're like... 5'7."

"5'8." he corrected.

"So he must be, what, 6'2, 6'3?"

"Something like that I guess, his shoes might have given his some extra height though. Maybe an inch or two." Dipper said.

Mabel pouted, "I hope not, do you know how cute the whole short/tall thing is? Amazingly so."

"I hate you, Mabel." Dipper shook his head with a tired laugh.

"Love you too, Dipper." she beamed, "Do you have any drawings?" she asked, changing the subject. Dipper tensed up. Mabel grinned, "Show me." she whispered.

With a deep sigh, Dipper leaned over and dug through his bag, frowning when he saw his pencil was snapped in half, but not dwelling on it as he pulled out his sketch book. He handed it over to Mabel and she took it with an excited squeal, quickly flipping through the pages before they became blank and backpedaling until she got to the drawing of Bill.

"Whoa." she whispered under her breath. She looked over to Dipper slowly, almost reluctant to take her eyes off of the drawing. "Is this him?" she asked.

Dipper nodded slowly.

Mabel's eyes wandered back over to the drawing. "I think this is one of your best ones yet." she commented, lightly fingering the beige tinted paper, but being careful not to smudge the markings.

"Thank you." Dipper said, not used to getting such sincere compliments from his twin.

"...You are so adorable, I can't believe you drew him. You guys are totally going to get together." she told him, still looking at the drawing with fond pride. Dipper sighed and closed his eyes as he rested his head against the headboard, deciding it wasn't worth the effort to defend himself.

"So, tell me about your day." she asked of him as she gave one last proud look at her brother's work before closing the book and giving her full attention to him as he recounted to her what his day had been like.


	5. "Maybe his Mindy-senses were tingling?"

"In the area of- what?" said a hushed voice on a small radio Dipper owned. He was able to modify it to pick up the police's frequency. The twirling of Dipper's fork halted as the brunette frowned and turned his head to look over at the radio, "Okay, new orders: alarms just went off at Western Bridges Mental Institution, Mindscape was supposedly spotted, all available forces head over there immediately. We're gonna need all the help we can get." the woman sighed before she ceased speaking, but Dipper was already up and out of the room.

Dipper quickly dove into his closet and pulled out a banged up shoebox. He hastily tore off the top and pulled out the neatly folded midnight blue steampunk, hooded jacket, with zipper pockets on the breast and normal pockets with closed flaps just below them, as well as the finger-less arm gloves, both made by Mabel. He tugged off his shirt and quickly put the vest on, zipping it up but leaving the hood down.

He then set aside the gloves and dug through the box and grabbed the leather pants with zipper pockets - Mabel insisted that his outfit had a pattern - and tugged them on. He pulled on the gloves after that, they came up to the lower half of his upper arm and ended just above his knuckles, so that they were less likely to bleed. After he had everything on, he grabbed the remaining item from inside the box, a black cotton scarf and tied it tightly around his mouth and nose so it wouldn't slip when he would move around.

Once he was satisfied, he got up and pulled his hood down and left his apartment after making sure the coast was crystal clear. Quickly, he muttered a soft chant under his breath and closed his eyes, focusing his energy on his body. Dipper felt power surge through him and he felt weightless.

With a determined grunt, Dipper did a quick hop to get him more energized and began running for the roof. Once he pushed open the door to take him up there he wasted to time and began running to where he knew the mental institution was, running and leaping over alleyways, the spell enhancing his already agile abilities and allowing him to easily gild through the air at a pace he wasn't even sure if others could see him unless they were looking for him.

In minutes, he saw the mental institution coming into view. The large, heavily guarded building had lights from inside flashing and a loud siren was blaring, just loud enough for Dipper to hear it from so far away. Dipper pouted apprehensively at the thought of having that loud noise ringing in his ears and distracting him from the task at hand.

Dipper shook his head to clear his thoughts and focused on running faster.

Dipper gradually came to a stop on the roof of the mental institution and looked around him. He had reached the mental institution before the cops, which had not surprised him in the slightest, but it was better that way; the less people involved, the less people that could be hurt.

Slowly, cautiously, Dipper walked up to the door that led inside and wrapped his hand around the handle, unwrapping his fingers and then closing again as nerves made his stomach churn. Dipper, after a deep breath, finally ripped open the door, slightly surprised that it wasn't locked, but thankful anyway.

Dipper stepped inside, the soft 'click' of the door closing behind him echoing loudly in the barren and desolate stairwell. Dipper's eyes glazed around lazily before he began descending the stairs.

"Okay, now, where could he be?" Dipper voiced his thoughts in a hushed voice as soon as he pushed open the door to the top floor and took in his surroundings. He quickly ran throughout the floor, huffing in frustration when there was no sign of the menace and traveling down to the next floor down.

It was only when Dipper had searched through three floors that he heard the police sirens in the distance and decided he needed to speed things up, so Dipper stopped searching and gathered his thoughts, using his head and trying to pinpoint where Mindscape could be.

 _Why a mental institution? What could he be here for? What, or who, is he looking for?_ Then it all made sense; Mindscape was here to get someone. Someone important.

Dipper was suddenly more alert than before and he could clearly hear the sirens blaring just outside, almost here, but not quite. Dipper needed to move quickly.

Dipper quickly ran down to the first floor, where he knew the lobby would be, and stopped when he saw a receptionist lying on the floor with her hands over her head.

"E-excuse me?" Dipper asked, breaking the silence and feeling bad when she jerked up in fear, meeting his pitying gaze with fearful ones.

Her eyes immediately flicked down to his bicep, where a dark blue tattoo of a pine tree called home and the fear lifted from her eyes as they drifted back up to his. "Evergreen." she whispered, awestruck.

"Yeah, hi, um, where is the place where you guys contain special patients? Like, _really_ special." Dipper asked, using the British accent he had perfected and making his voice deep. He didn't have any time to waste and he decided to get straight to the point.

"Huh? O-oh, um, we have a lot of 'special' patients." she said, looking around uncomfortably. It was obvious to Dipper that she didn't want to waste any of his time, and he appreciated that.

"The seemingly psychotic serial killer kind, I guess." Dipper clarified, that was probably the kind of people Mindscape would target to be an ally.

"Two floors down, fourth door to your left once you enter the hallway on your right. That's where he went." she spat out quickly.

He nodded and thanked her before he followed her directions as he went down to the second to last floor and entered the door the woman had told him would hold who he was looking for. Inside was a long corridor with thick heavy doors with an adequate amount of space between each one. At the end of the corridor, turning the corner, was a flash of black and gold.

Dipper's stare hardened and he jogged over to the end of the corridor, cursing as he felt the spell he had cast slowly diminishing. He had enough energy to restore it, but he needed to save it for an emergency.

Dipper finally turned the corner just in time to see Mindscape turning and stopping in front of a door. No, he couldn't let him let whoever it was he wanted out. So with a burst of determination, Dipper shouted: "Hey!" successfully capturing Mindscape's attention.

The man turned his head over to him and Dipper could practically _hear_ his groan of frustration. His hand fell limp by his side, "Are you serious?" he asked. Dipper began to walk over to him phlegmatically, swaying his hips in the slightest to mask his nerves with mock confidence. Mindscape's foot that was closest to Dipper moved to allow him to widen his stance and face Dipper more properly, "Evergreen? This is... new. Not necessarily bad, but new." Mindscape said, amused.

"Get used to it." was all Dipper said, thickening his fake accent and lowering his tone for good measure. He stopped advancing on the villain when he was a few yards away from him, cocking his hip to the side and resting his hand on it.

Mindscape's stance relaxed. It was obvious he didn't take Dipper as much of a threat of all, he saw him more of an entertaining pastime. That annoyed Dipper; he wanted to be taken seriously, everyone did. No one wanted to be viewed as a fool, especially not Dipper. He was an adult, he was mature, and he wasn't a child.

"Oh well, sometimes this can get kind of boring, nice to have something to spice things up a bit." he began to walk closer to Dipper, making him uncomfortable. "If only that something could be on my skill level. Oh well, a challenge is a challenge." he shrugged.

He and Mindscape were now only feet apart, Mindscape could clearly see the annoyance is Dipper's eyes, and Dipper could see the contemptuous gleam in Mindscape's.

"You know, three years of doing what you've been doing, and no one knows _why_ you do this." Dipper said, squinting his eyes and hoping to get some kind of answer from the man.

"Maybe no one will, or maybe some people already know. Kid, you really need to think before you speak." the man tutted, closing his eyes and shaking his head wistfully as he tapped a gloved finger to the side of his head.

Dippers eyes narrowed again, "You don't strike me as the type to share your secrets."

Mindscape took a step closer, a wide grin pulling at the corners of his mouth as he asked: "Then why did you ask?" before his hands caught aflame.

Dipper's eyes bulged and he took a large hop backwards to get some distance between him and the villain before he could be burned by his searing fire.

 _Fuck_. Dipper didn't know how he could lay one hit on the man now, his fire had always posed a major threat to Dipper. He would just have to be quick, he supposed.

"Getting straight to the point, huh?" Dipper asked, trying to keep the man unfocused.

"Don't see any reason not to." was his reply as he gave a curt shrug his shoulders and quickly shot some of his fire at Dipper that surly would've hit the boy, had he not moved out of its way fast enough.

With a reluctant sigh, Dipper cast another speed spell; better exhausted than dead, after all.

Dipper was able to easily move out of the way of the next attack. A slight frown of annoyance settled on Mindscape's features, but it was gone just as fast as it had come.

Mindscape was quick to fire more shots at Dipper, the rain of attacks seeming to never end. Dipper wasn't able to even get close to Mindscape, he was too busy playing defense to even think about switching to an offensive tactic. Slowly though, Dipper began to get better at avoiding Mindscape's attacks, and began to advance on him.

Dipper couldn't tell if the other was annoyed or impressed, or maybe even both, but he only stepped up his game, much to Dipper's dismay. Dipper quickly bettered himself as well, trying to get on equal footing with the man, but that was easier said than done. Dipper was breathing hard, but Mindscape didn't even seem tired. Dipper could feel hot sweat gathering in the small of his back, but Mindscape hadn't even broken a sweat, from what Dipper could tell, at least. Mindscape grinned, wide and sick, seeming to know just how much better he was than Dipper. He could've taken Dipper down with a simple snap of his fingers, so why didn't he?

"Oh, this is too much fun! Is that really all you've got to give me, Pine Tree? This is just depressing." he tutted, shaking his head as he referred to Dipper by the little nickname - or more like a pet name - that he had given Dipper. Whenever he would call Dipper by that name, 'Pine Tree', it made Dipper sick. He was mocking him, and Dipper hated it, detested it.

Dipper narrowed his eyes at the other, "Why are you here?" he asked.

Mindscape grinned, "Why do you think?" it wasn't rhetorical, it wasn't sarcastic, he seemed to genuinely want to know what assumption Dipper had made.

Dipper pursed his lips, "I think you're here to get someone out." Dipper said truthfully, deciding to humor the man, if he could even be called that.

A boisterous laugh came from Mindscape's mouth, "Maybe you're not such an idiot after all." he said, narrowing his eyes superciliously at Dipper, the corner of his mouth stretching into a lopsided and smug smirk.

"So I was right." Dipper said, partially feeling prideful in himself and partially wanting confirmation.

"And I take back my previous statement." he said, extending his hand and firing more blue, searing flames in Dipper's direction, but Dipper simply sidestepped the flames.

Dipper ignored him. "Who are you trying to get out? Why is this person important to you?" Dipper asked.

"Why would I tell you that?" Mindscape retorted.

Dipper didn't answer him, instead, he built up as mush courage and determination as he could and shot forward, his hand in a tight fist and he quickly straightened his arm from it position close to his side.

Dipper was utterly surprised when he had managed to land a hit on the side of Mindscape's face. Surprised, but ecstatic.

Dipper looked up with wide eyes as he watched the man stumble back, seemingly just as surprised - if not more - than Dipper. A tiny, incredulous laugh of jubilation left Dipper's mouth as he slowly smiled, staring down at his hand as if it held a check for a million dollars.

"Wow, I'm actually a little impressed, Pine Tree. Who knew you could actually pack a punch?" he laughed as he rubbed at his jaw, his voice loud and booming, alerting some of the patients in the rooms around them. From inside one of the rooms, the one Mindscape was standing in front of when Dipper had called out to him, came a gruff voice that called out for Mindscape. The villain spared a glance over to it, "Yeah, buddy don't you worry, this kid ain't much, we'll be out of here soon enough." he said, shooting a grin in Dipper's direction when he had said the jab that was obviously directed towards Dipper.

Dipper narrowed his eyes at the other and moved to take another swing at him while he was distracted, but Mindscape didn't miss a beat as he pushed Dipper away with flaming hands, burning both Dipper's skin and his suit.

"Fuck." Dipper whispered under his breath, looking down at his arm and hissing at the fiery feeling that burned his skin whenever he moved.

"See, barely a threat at all." Mindscape said, bringing Dipper back to his painful reality. Dipper looked up at Mindscape just in time to see him fire at him once more. Dipper barley had enough time to move out of the way, but he could feel more pain in his side and arm. The fire had nicked him.

With the smarting burns and the wailing siren, Dipper found it nearly impossible to concentrate on anything.

 _Come on, Dipper. Step up your fucking game or he will walk over your corpse._ Dipper told himself. With a deep but quick breath Dipper calmed himself down and tried to ignore the pain in his side and both of his arms.

"I'll admit it kid, you've got a lot of tenacity, but you can't beat me, Pine Tree. I've got magic, and I don't know where you got whatever it is that fuels you, but mine is so much more powerful. You get powerful magic when you go to powerful people - or creatures, for that matter." Mindscape said, his bragging seeming to never end.

Dipper was breathing hard as Mindscape walked up to him. Dipper nervously backed up until he felt his back hit the wall. Dipper tried to swallow the lump in his throat, but it just wouldn't go down.

"Playing is fun, but it's important to separate play time and work time, and right now, I need to work." Mindscape said, his voice cold and serious, "So I'm sorry to say this, but I think it's about time we put an end our little play session." with that said, Mindscape lit his hands brighter and easily landed a punch to Dipper's forehead.

Dipper skidded on the marble floor, his arm out in front of him, and when he finally came to a stop, he noticed that though his skin still burned, there were no physical burn marks.

_What? But I know for a fact that his fire can kill, so why isn't it really hurting me? Unless... unless he doesn't actually want to hurt me, but why wouldn't he?_

"Why aren't you killing me?" Dipper said more than asked, his voice holding only defeat as he struggled to keep his eyes open. Dipper lifted himself on shaky arms, but he didn't dare try to stand. Mindscape stopped in his tracks, but he didn't turn around to look at Dipper. "You said it would be so easy, and you're right, so why haven't you killed me."

Mindscape sighed and turned to look down at Dipper. Dipper hated it. "You want the truth?" he asked, walking closer to Dipper.

"Why would I want anything else?"

Mindscape chuckled, "Fair point." he then crouched in front of Dipper and his hands ceased flaming, "I honestly don't know." he said. Dipper furrowed his eyebrows, baffled.

"What?" he croaked.

"I don't know why I haven't killed you yet, Pine Tree. I have no desire to, which is strange, because I live for the moment I can watch the life leave someone's eyes, whether I burn them, stab them, strangle them, beat them; I always love it. With you, however, I like you, kid. You may not be extremely skilled in fighting, but you don't give up easily, and that's an admirable feat."

"So what, I'm determined, why does that make you not want to kill me."

"You're really dumb, though. Pine tree, I literally _just_ spelled it out for you. Oh well, I guess you want to hear me say it again. I can't really blame you, many people would kill to become someone I like, both while I'm Mindscape and my personal self, and you get to be liked by the big bad wolf. You get to hear it a lot don't you? I'll even say it once more, I like you. You're entertaining and meritorious. So I'll let you live... this time."

Once he had finished speaking, Mindscape rose to his feet and walked over to the cell that held the person he seemed to know. He held his hand close to the crack in between the door and the doorway, just across from the handle, and his hands began burning again, bright and blue.

After a few moments of him just standing there and Dipper trying desperately to get to his feet, Mindscape finally stopped and took a step back. Dipper watched in horror as Mindscape warned whoever was in the cell to step away from the door and bent his knees before he rammed his shoulder into the door. The door slammed open and banged loudly against the wall.

Mindscape straightened up and waited for the person to come out. When he finally did, Dipper could hear loud footsteps coming from down the hall. He turned and looked over at Dipper, offering him a big, yellowed, toothy grin.

"You're right, Mindscape. He's nothing big at all." Dipper narrowed his eyes at the man and tried once more to stand up. He couldn't and the man only laughed at him, his voice gruff and deep.

Dipper couldn't place his finger on it, but something was familiar about this man. His greying hair, rounded boxy glasses, and large nose just shouted familiarity to Dipper. The man turned his gaze away from Dipper and looked over at Mindscape, "Let's go, we've got a lot of work to do." he said and began to walk down the hallway, Mindscape following him with a wiggling fingered wave and a flirtatious wink, which Dipper recoiled at.

Dipper had been able to – quite literally - drag himself out of there before the police had the chance to find him.

Before, Dipper had only stuck to getting bystanders away from any fight that Mindscape decided to engage in, but after the other night, he had decided that he didn't want anyone else to suffer anymore, at least not by the hands of such a cruel vigilante. He wouldn't wish that upon anyone, not anymore.

When Dipper was finally back at his apartment, he didn't know what to do. He was in an immense amount of pain, but there were no wounds to treat. Dipper just didn't know how to make the pain stop. He supposed only time could heal this wound... and ice. Maybe if he rubbed ice where it hurt it would feel better.

With a painful grunt, Dipper rose to his feet from where he was laying on his bed and hobbled over to the kitchen. Once in there, he opened the old, white freezer door and grabbed an ice tray. He grabbed a plastic baggy and dumped all of the ice tray's contents into the baggy, closing it and wrapping a few wet rags around it before pressing it to his skin, opting to treat his side first.

Dipper hissed before a relieved sigh passed his lips as the pain eased in the slightest. Dipper pressed the ice bag harder against his skin, wanting the pain to go away quicker, but that only seemed to hurt Dipper more.

Dipper trudged over to his bedroom and lied down on the bed, resting the cold rags against his side and gently rubbing the ice over the cloth. Dipper did this until the pain was no more than a dull throb and then he moved the rag to his arm, finding it a little more difficult but still possible to rub the ice on his arm. Dipper did the same as he did with his side to his arm and head – rubbing with the ice until the pain was almost numb – before moving on to his other arm. Dipper wasn't sure is he was actually taking away the pain or simply numbing his skin, but it felt nice, so, in that moment, Dipper couldn't care less.

Once Dipper's pain was gone, the fatigue finally settled in, and it settled quickly. As soon as he was satisfied with the numbing of his other arm, he closed his eyes and Dipper nearly fell asleep right then and there, but, reluctantly so, he opened his eyes once more and pushed himself up from his bed; he was still wearing his clothes, he needed to change.

Dipper walked back over to his closet where the box he stored his suit in was still left out, its top laying astray to the left of it. Dipper stripped himself of the suit, slow and tired, and – reluctantly - folded everything before stuffing it into the box and grabbing the lid, lazily putting it on top of the box and pushing it with his foot back into the closet. He closed the closet doors and walked back over to his bed. He was only wearing his underwear, but he didn't care enough to get into any sleeping clothes.

Dipper sighed in satisfaction as his head hit his pillow and he closed his eyes, soon falling into a blissful and sound sleep.

 

* * *

 

 

When Dipper first woke up, it was sudden, and he knew something was wrong, but he couldn't tell exactly what it was that felt to weird. He wasn't in pain anymore, his pain having subsided throughout the week. He didn't stay up to late last night. So what could it be?

It could be that he wasn't waking up to the sound of an alarm clock, but he knew for a fact that it was Saturday and he didn't need one. Dipper just couldn't place his finger on what was causing this strange feeling inside of him. His stomach churned and his throat and chest both felt equally tight and constricted, but what was making him so on edge?

The fact that Mindscape and his new 'buddy' haven't even tried to make an appearance could have also been the cause, but he had been worrying about that all week long, so it would make him as disconcerted as he was now. Maybe something happened while he was sleeping and he now has Spidey Senses for Mindscape. What would that be - Mindy Senses? Maybe his Mindy Senses were tingling.

Dipper's daunting, confusing, and asinine thoughts were interrupted by a sharp knock on his door. It was then he remembered what had awoken him.

Dipper furrowed his eyebrows and walked over to the door furtively. Dipper didn't have a peep hole, he hated it, and it made no sense why he wouldn't have one, but he didn't, and since he lived in such an old and poor apartment, he had no window by the door to peek out of, so he had no other choice than to slowly open the door and confront whoever had knocked.

When he opened the door, he was shocked to find Bill standing in front of him. Dipper's eyebrows furrowed further as he took in the man's appearance. His hair was lazily brushed – probably only with his fingers – and it lacked its usual gel. He were black, reflecting aviators to cover his eyes – supposedly so people wouldn't recognize him – and Dipper secretly hated them as he wished he could see that beautiful blue that he could never grow tired of. He wore an eye-catching black, wool trench coat, his white undershirt and yellow tie hidden underneath a black and gold scarf. He wore fitted dark blue jeans and black ankle boots.

Dipper shivered as a cool gust of wind entered his apartment. He _really_ regretted not sleeping in more clothing. Dipper looked down at himself. He _really_ regretted not wearing more clothing. All he was wearing was a pair of black sweats in front of his boss. Dipper ran his hands up and down his arms, purposefully stopping them when his hand covered his tattoo to keep Bill from seeing it.

"U-um, hi?" Dipper spoke, hoping to relive the awkward tension but only worsening it.

"So this is what you call 'normal'?" Bill asked, ignoring Dipper's greeting as he looked around Dipper's apartment.

Dipper didn't let it bother him, "Yeah, though I'm sure it's not what you consider normal." Dipper leaned against the door frame, trying to act normal, but having your boss suddenly show up at your door step – especially while he was half naked - wasn't exactly your "Typical Tuesday" sort of thing; it was kind of unsettling, to Dipper, at least. "Not to offend you, but why are you here... and how do you know where I live?" Dipper asked.

"Not that hard to get someone to tell you where your assistant lives, especially with an important position such as CEO. As for why I'm here, I'm a little disappointed that you forgot our little shopping date." just like that, all the puzzle pieces were put together.

"Oh." Dipper said stupidly.

"Oh." Bill parroted, a dumb grin on his face as he pushed passed Dipper and invited himself in. "Go get ready, I don't really care how long you take, but I want to leave before ten." he ordered.

"What time is it?" Dipper asked after he nodded and turned to wander into his bedroom.

"Eleven passed nine." Bill answered after looking down at his watch.

Dipper nodded once more before stopping and turning his body towards Bill. "I don't have a lot of things to keep you entertained or whatever, but make yourself at home, I guess." Dipper said before turning back around and walking into his bedroom, shutting the door behind him. Dipper walked over to his bathroom and locked it after he closed it behind him.

He quickly turned the shower on and stepped out of his sweat pants and underwear. Dipper looked in the mirror and frowned at his appearance. He couldn't believe he let his boss see his like this while he looked like a god, but Bill always looked like a god. Even if he were covered in mud and trash, he would still have women falling at his feet.

Dipper sighed and slumped his shoulders in exhaustion. This day was going to be tiring, Dipper knew that much, and all could do was grin and bear it. With that thought in mind, Dipper picked up his tooth brush and put some tooth paste on it before grabbing hair brush and carefully ran it through his hair until most - if not all - of the knots out of his hair as he simultaneously brushed his teeth. Once he spit out the tooth paste and rinsed his mouth, Dipper finally stepped into the shower.

Dipper made sure to keep his shower short, he didn't want Bill to get bored, or worse, snoopy. He was out in well under ten minutes, and after patting himself down and securing the towel around his hips, Dipper stuck his head into his room to make sure it was clear of a certain unwanted blonde before stepping fully into it. He walked over to the door and locked it before dropping his towel and walking over to his closet.

Dipper didn't have many choices, so he chose a pair of black jeans, a simple white t-shirt, white and black sneakers, and an indigo hoodie to fight of the chilly Oregon weather. Dipper shuffled back into his bathroom and wiped away at some of the fog on the mirror just enough to let him brush through his hair once more before deciding he was decent enough to leave the house – let alone in Bill's presence, surely having the handsome male beside him would make him look like a literal piece of trash.

Dipper unlocked his door and exited the safety of his bedroom to see Bill, in all his glory, sitting on Dipper's old, dusty couch. Dipper grimaced in embarrassment and walked over to him. "Sorry about that." he apologized, both for making him wait on Dipper as well as making him wait in – or on - such conditions.

Bill looked up at his and smiled a small smile. "Don't worry about it." he dismissed Dipper, "Let's get going." with that, he got up and tucked the phone he was amusing himself with in his back pocket before not-so-subtly dusting his pants off and making his way to the door.

Dipper followed him, silent and mildly offended, but he didn't say anything, his couch really was that dirty. He supposed he was more embarrassed than offended.

"Where will we go first?" he asked, breaking the comfortable silence between the two as they descended the stairs of his apartment. Dipper wrapped his arms tightly around himself to try and shield himself from the cold as a shiver racked his body. It was getting really cold, Dipper was sure it would snow soon.

"Just to the mall. I think style would suit you over class, although you will need to dress up on occasion.

"Okay." Dipper said, less concerned with Bill's answer and more concerned with keeping himself warm; he just wasn't built for the winter.

"You cold?" Bill asked, and Dipper could tell he was smirking even though he wasn't looking at him. Dipper looked over and wasn't surprised to find what he could see of his turned face upturned into a smirk.

"No shit, Sherlock." Dipper didn't want to be sarcastic, he wanted to stop being so friendly with his boss, he shouldn't, but he couldn't stop the sarcastic comment before it came out.

"So you don't like the winter." Bill noted, ignoring Dipper's comment, much to Dipper's relief.

Dipper looked up to Bill's eyes before looking to where he was walking, huffing lightly. "No, I don't." Dipper agreed. Bill simply nodded, not pressing further on the matter. "Why?" Dipper asked as they neared his car.

"No reason in particular." Bill shrugged, still not bringing himself to look down at Dipper. Dipper wouldn't ever admit it, but he wanted Bill to look at him, he liked it when his eyes would slowly trail down his body, and Dipper would pretend that instead of thinking how horrible Dipper looked, he was imagining what could be underneath and- wait, what? Since when did Dipper start thinking like that? Never, this never happened. _This never happened, this never happened, this never happened, this never hap-_

"Dipper?" Bill asked, dragging Dipper out of his consternation.

"H-huh? What?" Dipper asked, looking around in a daze, a slight tint to his cheeks. Dipper noticed that Bill was standing in front of him, holding the door open for him. "Oh, thank you." he said, surprising himself when he didn't stutter or jumble his words.

"No problem." he said offering Dipper a small smile, but it held too much unease for it to seem genuine. Dipper didn't comment on it.

The car ride was relatively quiet, other than Dipper's heavy breathing from how fast Bill was going. The only conversation that was had was about Dipper not spending a cent of his own money while they were on their little shopping spree.

"But what if, in a month or two, you find out you hate me and fire me? Then all of your money will be wasted." Dipper argued.

"It won't be wasted if what I use it to buy will still be worn, and besides, you're too entertaining to just grow bored with in the blink of an eye. I won't grow sick of you in just a few short months." Bill replied, but Dipper only pouted and crossed his arms over his chest in a very childlike manner in response, looking out his respective window. He would never admit it, but Bill answer made a warmth settle in his chest.

"Stop pouting kid, it's doing nothing to make you look angry. In fact, you look rather adorable right now." Bill commented. Dipper turned his head only to show the other his - in Dipper's eyes - intimidating scowl. Bill chortled at him, which only furthered the intensity of Dipper's scowl. Oh, if looks could kill.

"If you keep scowling, your face will stay that way." Bill teased. Dipper sighed and turned his head to glare out the window, watching the orange, red, and yellow blur of the trees pass by.

They spoke no more after that, or at least while they were in the car.

After they both exited the sleek, expensive car, Bill turned to look at Dipper, a gleeful grin on his lips. "I'm going to love this, I just know it."

"That's because you are a sadistic jerk with a miserable subject at your beck and call." Dipper grumbled.

"Precisely." Bill replied as they began to walk towards the large, - again, to Dipper - intimidating mall.


	6. "I'm not gay."

It was exhausting, shopping with Bill. All Dipper wanted to do was sit down and  _breathe_  for a moment, but it seemed that with Bill, that was just impossible.

Dipper tried to pretend he wasn't physically and mentally exhausted, but he knew he was doing a knock off job at it because behind Bill's excited smiles there always seemed to be weariness and discontent.

"These aren't working for you..." Bill drew off, his left hand rubbing at the corner of his jaw while his right was tightly pressed against his chest and supporting his left arm. His stance was laid back as his eyes racked up and down the poorly fitted suit he'd picked out for the brunette. "Go take it off. We'll have to get one fitted for you." he decided. "Come on, Dipper. I know where we can get that done quickly." he motioned for Dipper to follow him as soon as Dipper stepped out of the booth and quickly walked towards the exit of the store they were in.

"W-what? But won't that be expensive?" Dipper asked, staring at Bill wide-eyed as he desperately tried to catch up to him.

"Sure," Bill shrugged, "but you still need a suit."

"True as that may be," Dipper started and he could see Bill roll his eyes at Dipper's formality. Dipper continued, "I don't want you to spend a prodigious amount of money on some dolt like me. I've never done anything to merit that." Dipper shook his head.

Bill shook his head solemnly and clucked his tongue as he shoved his hands inside of his deep pockets. "You and your big words." he laughed quietly.

Dipper narrowed his eyes. "Is there something wrong with using big words?" Dipper asked.

Bill shook his head, "There's nothing  _wrong_  with it, per se," he shrugged, "it's actually rather cute; seeing a child use big words such as 'prodigious' or phrases like 'true as that may be’ is just adorable." he chuckled quietly.

Dipper glared up at him and harrumphed. "Why did I agree to this?" he mumbled to himself.

Bill shrugged, "You didn't really have a say in the matter."

Dipper sighed and looked at the ground as he walked, his steps falling in sync with Bill's.

It was silent between the two of them as they walked to Bill's car. Bill opened the door for Dipper like he always had and Dipper silently thanked him. Bill walked around and climbed into the driver's seat as Dipper buckled himself in and Bill started up the car.

"So," Bill said before a new silence could settle in, "the suits won't be-"

"Wait  _suits_? As in plural? As in more than one?" Dipper asked.

"Yes, you don't expect me to let you wear the same thing every single day, do you?" Bill chuckled quietly.

"Well, I don't-"

"Anyway," Bill interrupted, sparing Dipper the embarrassment, "they won't be ready today so I will save you the trouble and pick them up for you and drop them off at your apartment, since you don't have a car and it doesn't seem like your leg is completely painless yet." Bill said and Dipper looked down at him lap almost shamefully. Bill took note of this. "Kid, it's not your fault that you got hurt." Bill told him.

"...It kind of is though." Dipper whispered.

Bill was quiet for a moment, seeming to be in thought before he asked, "You never told me how you were hurt. Only that you had an accident." Bill told him.

Dipper shook his head and his eyes watched his hands nervously fumbled in his lap. He had hoped that Bill wouldn't have asked that question. "It's not an interesting story." he denied.

"Any story that involves incapacitating someone is at least the slightest bit interesting, and besides, I'm already interested, you could just tie the right strings together for me because I've accumulated a lot of stories in my head." Bill told him.

Dipper couldn't bring himself to speak for a moment. He hadn't even told Mabel about him being injured yet, could he really just tell this man he met less than a week ago more than he told the person he was closest to? He told Pacifica...

"You don't have to tell me if you really don't want-"

"I was shot." Dipper said quickly, his shoulders tensing up at every second of silent that passed after that. His blunt nails dug into the soft flesh of his hands and as his teeth sunk into his bottom lip, he absolutely refused to look up at Bill.

Bill didn't say anything, and Dipper wasn't exactly sure if he was grateful or perturbed by his silence. It seemed Dipper couldn't escape silence; whenever he would try to chase it away, it would always come back, like it were darkness and all he had were matches.

Dipper watched as Bill pulled into a parking space in a town center, but he didn't move to get out or even turn off the car. Instead, he turned towards Dipper with an unreadable expression. "What happened?" he finally asked, and Dipper was confused by the wave of relief that washed over him. Why did he care if Bill was interested or worried about him? He shouldn't, he didn't.

"Like I said, it's not-"

"Stop being so difficult and tell me what happened to you." Bill said seriously, which unnerved Dipper a little.

"I... I was curious and nosy and got myself in a bad situation." Dipper said. He looked over at Bill and his frustrated and impatient expression was all he needed to continue. "It was the week before I started working for you, Thursday, I believe." Dipper closed his eyes and leaned his head against the headrest. "Some people were talking in an alleyway, and being the intrusive person I am, I got involved. They weren't nice people to say the least." Dipper looked back down at his lap, a dry and bitter laugh leaving him. He didn't want to say anything about Mindscape if he didn't absolutely have to.

"So what, they just shot you because you got to close?" Bill pried.

Dipper pressed his lips together. Maybe he could still leave Mindscape out of it. "They wanted something with another person they were with and he didn't want any part of it I guess. They threatened to kill him and I freaked out. Long story short:  I got too close and they shot and tried to use me as a persuasion." Dipper said, hoping Bill would drop it.

"How did you get away?" Dipper never was a lucky person. Dipper stayed silent for a while, hoping that if he displayed hesitation Bill would leave the subject alone. "Dipper, how did you get away from them?" his tone was more serious now, demanding to be answered and Dipper hated the man for his nosey curiosity.

"The persuasion worked and they let me go." Dipper lied.

Bill sighed ran his hands through his hair. "Okay, first of all, you're a horrible liar."

"Wha- how did you-"

"It was all over the news, did you really think no one would have hurt about the charred bodies found in an alleyway with no leads as to who was responsible? Second of all," Bill's expression turn dark, and it scared Dipper, "don't ever lie to me again, understand?"

"Yes, sir." Dipper whispered, looking back down to his lap in shameful guilt.

"Now, tell me:  how did you really get away from them, and how did they die?" Bill asked, his voice low and steady.

"It was Mindscape they were talking to. He killed them and let me go." Dipper admitted.

"Mindscape? He just let you go?" Bill furrowed his eyebrows in bemusement.

"Mm hmm," Dipper nodded, "I don't know why either."

"Why did you lie?"

"I don't know..." Dipper replied honestly.

"You just don't want to believe someone as despicable as Mindscape can show kindness?" Bill guessed, his tone surprisingly bitter.

"It's not... it's not that I don't want to believe it, because I do, I really do. I just don't understand it." Dipper told him. Dipper looked over at him, both curious and fearful to see what his reaction would be. Bill was looking forward, a cold stare was settled on his features and his arms crossed over his chest.

Dipper looked forward and swallowed the lump in his throat. "I'm sorry." he murmured.

Bill looked over at him, surprised. "Why are you sorry?" he asked, his voice higher than it normally was.

"I don't know," Dipper shrugged slightly, "I lied, I guess, and for no good reason."

Bill looked forward again. "Well, I'm not going to tell you it's all right, or not to worry about it, because that would imply that if you were to do it again it would be okay, but as long as you don't lie again, we won't have a problem." Bill said and turned off the car. Dipper followed as Bill stepped out of the car. "Now, just dressing the part isn't quite good enough, you need to look the part, so after we get you fitted, you're getting a haircut." Bill said and began walking.

"Wait, what? No, I never agreed to that!" Dipper opposed.

"You never disagreed." Bill shrugged.

"You never brought it up, and I'm disagreeing right now." Dipper said, straining himself to keep up with the taller man.

"Too late for that, I've already made an appointment." Bill grinned smugly down at him, enjoying Dipper's aggravation. "Is Dipper your actual name?" Bill suddenly asked.

"What? No, it's not." Dipper replied.

"Good, that's a horrible name choice. I'll give you a better one." Bill decided.

"What, why?" asked Dipper.

"Because you're my special assistant so you'll need a special name. I'll call you Little Dipper until I think of a better one. Get it? Because you're so short." he laughed.

Dipper groaned and rubbed at his face. "You're insufferable." he muttered.

"Sure, what's your point?" Bill smiled widely.

"I..." Bill laughed before Dipper could add anything else. Bill held open the door of one of the stores and Dipper thanked him as he stepped inside, Bill following suit. 

Bill, unfortunately for Dipper, had been serious when he said he was going to make Dipper cut his hair. Nothing could have prepared Dipper's ears for the joyous squealing of Mabel when he showed up with his hair cut. 

Bill had surprised Dipper when they walked into the barber shop and told the man not to cut off too much. "I happen to like your hair, it just needs to be more manageable." he told Dipper. The barber had only cut off a short amount; his hair was a semi haircut that now came to just above his jawline, but it still had that long look to it.

"Dipper?" Mabel interrupted in a concerned tone of voice.

"What? Oh, I'm sorry. I spaced out, didn't I?" Dipper laughed and rubbed the back of his neck.

Mabel nodded, "You did."

"Um... what were we talking about?" he asked sheepishly.

"Mindscape." she reminded him.

"Ah, okay, I remember." Dipper lied, nodding his head and pretending to recall their previous conversation. "So, what is online again?" he asked.

Mabel sighed, immediately seeing through his lie. She had lived with him almost all of her life, she knew when he was lying or not, but she decided to enlighten him nonetheless.

"It's on the news that he broke into the hospital and broke out a patient. Everyone is theorizing why he went on that rescue mission; most are claiming he had a close relationship with the man - some are even going as far to say it was a  _close_  relationship-"

"Didn't need to know that, Mabel. Stay on topic." Dipper interrupted.

Mabel shrugged, "You asked what I found and that was part of what I found." she defended herself.

"Well, I highly doubt that theory is true. The man was extremely old - like, Grunkle Stan old." he told her.

"Ew, no, nope, not real." she nodded, her facial expression contorting into one of disgust.

"Okay, well, did it say anything else?" he asked.

Mabel shook her head, "Nope, nothing that you don't already know."

"Okay, my only question is what exactly does Mindscape want with Four-Eyes." Dipper wondered aloud.

Mabel shrugged, "It's still a possibility that they were friends way back when," she offered, "I guess I'll do some research on the guy and try to come up with a conclusion." she told him.

Dipper nodded and rubbed at his face. "Okay, that'd be nice... hopefully, a step in the right direction." he whispered.

"Yeah." Mabel agreed. 

There was a long lull in conversation as Dipper thought to himself and Mabel began watching videos of cats getting stuck in things. No matter how many conclusions he came up with to his question, there was always a detail that was missing or things not adding up correctly—and Mabel's persistant giggling wasn't helping him think very much.

Dipper looked out of the window and stared into the inky, black night sky that was barren of more than a handful of stars due to the cities intense artificial light. It had to be late, and Dipper had to work tomorrow. "What time is it?" Dipper asked his sister.

Mabel looked at the lower corner of the laptop she was watching the videos on and pouted. "Late enough for you to have to leave." she sighed forlornly.

"Could you be more specific?" he asked.

"It's three ‘til twelve." Mabel complied.

Dipper sighed and rubbed at his stinging eyes before running his fingers through his hair. "Pacifica is going to kill me one of these days for always staying after visiting hours." he laughed humorlessly.

Mabel shook her head, "I don't think she minds that much. It's not like your hindering her work and it's not like I mind staying up for you."

"You should really rest though, you need it." Dipper told her.

"I rest enough as is, and when you're not here almost all I do is sleep or practice walking on my own." Mabel waved him off. 

Dipper sighed, he knew this was a battle he would never win. "Fine, but I still have work tomorrow, so I really should get going." Dipper said and rose up from the chair he was sitting in to press his lips gently against her forehead. "Sleep well, I'll see you tomorrow." with that, Dipper quietly walked to the door and waved at her before turning off the light and softly closing it behind him. 

He waved goodbye to Pacifica and apologized for leaving so late. Then, he made his way home in a quiet silence with only the interruption of a car passing every now and then. Dipper enjoyed the silence. 

* * *

 

Mindscape stared at the man across from him, his greying hair and boxy glasses seeming to be the only thing to rest his eyes on as he leaned on the dark wall behind him, his composure relaxed with his legs crossed at the ankle and his arms crossed over his chest. He wasn't quite ready to let his old friend know his identity just yet, even though he was partially the reason the old man was put in that institution, so he was still dressed in his trademark outfit, only with his hood down to display, at the least, a thin line of trust between the two. However, even though he had his hood down, he highly doubted that Sixer could figure out whom he was. After all, there were plenty of blond men in town

He watched as the man furrowed his eyebrows together and pressed his lips into a thin line. He looked frustrated. "Are you even listening anymore?" he asked, his voice raising in volume the longer he talked as anger worked its way through him.

The blond looked up at the older man and raised a hidden eyebrow. "Not really," he answered heedlessly, "I can't help that you're boring. Honestly, if your brain wasn't of use to me I would have already killed you."

The old man sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose between his thumb and index finger. "Thank you, that is a very comforting and reassuring thing to say." he replied sarcastically.

"Sarcasm?" Mindscape asked, amusement evident in his tone. "That's a new one for you! Where'd you learn it?" he joked, a mischievous grin plastered on his lips.

"Mindscape, we don't have time for your empty-headed jokes. We need to focus on your mission." the old man grouched.

Mindscape groaned and rubbed at his face. "You make this sounds so serious and dire. Like I have someone above me, giving me orders. That's not how this works. It’s the opposite and you know this well.” he told the man.

“Yes, I’m well aware of that fact and there is no reason for you to remind me. And I don’t know if you’ve forgotten, but this is serious and dire, for you at least. As I was saying before, I think we should pay a little more attention to that kid. He’s growing more powerful and I think we should—“

“The kid is just that:  a kid. There is no reason to make a fuss over such a trivial matter. I thought you were smarter than this, Sixer.”

The man sighed, “Once again, It’s Stanford, and once again, kids grow up, and I think this kid has potential you aren’t seeing.” the man, Stanford, stressed.

“He doesn’t matter, Sixer. Not to me. Drop it.” dark eyes narrowed at the man as Mindscape shoulder squared, not in anger, but more in tension and annoyance.

Stanford sighed and slumped his shoulders. “Alright, but I still think you should—“

Mindscape kicked off the wall and slammed the side of his fist on it with more force than necessary, resulting in a loud, resonating  _bang_  to fill the small and dark room they were in. “Do you not understand the meaning of ‘drop it’? Shut the fuck up before I rip out your trachea.” he spat, his eyes widening in surprise before they narrowed just as quickly.

Stanford’s breath caught in his throat and he took a small step back. He swallowed nervously, “Okay, I’ll drop the subject.” he conceded, correcting his posture and standing up straighter. The man’s anger seemed to dissipate as he closed his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest, leaning against the wall once again.

“Pyronica said she’s making progress over in Europe, I think I should go over there soon and see if it’s actually what I need sometime soon.” Mindscape told him, choosing to keep his eyes closed. Stanford felt uncomfortable under the gaze of the single, open eye on his forehead. He knew it only served a symbolic purpose and couldn’t actually see anything, but he still felt awkward around it.

“Pyronica… she is the pink one, correct?” Stanford asked.

“Correct.” Mindscape nodded.

“Okay, well, I will continue my work in private. It is much more peaceful that way.” Stanford said and began to head down the hall, where Mindscape had so kindly supplied him a room, at least, until he could find a more private housing for him.

Mindscape would have poked fun at him, but he supposed the man was right:  he did need to be more serious. Mindscape deciding on nodding shortly and retiring to his own room to do work of his own, in which he had a lot of. Tonight would be a long night.  

* * *

Fourteen weeks. It’s been three weeks since Dipper had gotten the new job, five weeks since Mabel had woken up, twelve weeks since he had begun opposing Mindscape, and fourteen weeks since the accident. So much had happened in those fourteen weeks, and they had flew by so quickly, yet so slowly at the same time. In the beginning, it was agonizingly slow. To sit there for hours at a time and just  _stare_  at his sister’s face, caked in flourishing bruises and scrapes, it was worse than any torture could have been, and yet he rarely left her side. It hurt to look at her face, but he looked none the less. He felt he couldn’t even look at anything else. He was always telling himself, “This is your fault. You should have noticed what was happening. You should have been there to save her. It should’ve been you.” and no matter how many times he told himself that he would feel guiltier if it were him, making Mabel suffer what he was suffering, he kept telling himself that it should’ve been him.

Dipper never wondered what he would do if she didn’t wake up. He told himself it was because he knew she would wake up, but he knew that wasn’t really the truth, he just couldn’t begin to think about what he would do if he had to go on without Mabel. It was unthinkable, so he refused to think about it.

Dipper had never been happier and he didn’t believe he could ever be as happy as when Mabel finally woke up. He had been sleeping, his head resting on her lap and the book he had been reading abandoned on the bed, when he awoke to a trembling hand carding through his hair. He had slowly opened his eyes and saw the teary ones of Mabel. When Dipper had told her of how expensive bills were, the first words that left her mouth were “I knew we should have invested in insurance. Even a shitty one would have been better.” Dipper had laughed and nodded his head, saying he would look for a good one in the future.

When Mabel had found out someone had begun fighting against Mindscape, she didn’t even have to ask to know it was Dipper. She was against the idea at first, screaming about how stupid he was and how he didn’t stop to think about how she would have felt if she woke up from her coma without a brother, but she had calmed down after a few days of sincere apologizing on Dipper’s part, and after grasping that Dipper wouldn’t stop, no matter how much she’d asked, she decided she might as well make sure he doesn’t kill himself from doing what he was doing.

She had made Dipper a better, more suited and comfortable outfit than a pair of jeans and a hoodie while Dipper studied away and practiced his magic. She also had him promise that he wouldn’t actually get in contact with the menace; that would be trouble waiting to happen and she couldn’t bare living without her twin just as much as he couldn’t bare living without her.

A lot had happened over the span of fourteen weeks, but everything was forgotten in the moment as Dipper stepped out of the hospital with his sister beside him, her steps a little wobbly but enough. Mabel had been discharged today, and Dipper couldn’t be more glad to leave that god forsaken building. Mabel still insisted that she would visit the nurses she had made friends with over her stay, and Dipper found he had no grounds to tell her she couldn’t.

Seeing as they had no more outrageously expensive bills to pay anymore and Mabel had mostly been eating the less that tasty hospital food for over three months, Dipper decided he desperately wanted to treat his sister out.

“Where do  _you_  want to go?” she asked, trying to swiftly shift the decision onto her brother’s shoulders, but Dipper wouldn’t have it.

“Wherever you want to go.” he shrugged, easily giving the decision back to her.

Mabel groaned, “I don’t know! You know I don’t like making decisions.” she pouted.

Dipper raised his hands as a small smile crept up onto his lips. “Just say where you want to go.” he told her.

Mabel frowned and him and pursed her lips as she stared at the ground in deep concentration. Dipper found it cute the way her forehead bunched up and chuckled to himself as he stuffed his hands in his pockets, trying to protect them from the weather that just didn’t seem to stop dropping in temperature. It would surely snow within the week.

“I want pancakes.” she decided, drawing Dipper out from his thoughts.

Dipper looked over at his sister and quirked and eyebrow. “Pancakes?” he checked his phone—the new smartphone Bill had gotten him—before continuing, “At nine passed three?”

Mabel shrugged, “You asked me what I wanted and I want pancakes.” she said simply.

Dipper chuckled and looked down to watch where he was walking. “Okay, let’s get pancakes.” he said. It had been a long fourteen weeks, and Dipper was glad to finally have his sister back—really have her back. 

 Dipper and Mabel had walked until they had found a diner. Half way there, Dipper had noticed Mabel shivering uncontrollably and gave her his coat, despite her protests that he keep it for himself.

They walked into the doors and Dipper grimaced at how shabby and unhygienic the place looked, but before he could complain to Mabel, she dragged him over to a booth and shoved him into it, sitting down on the opposite seat of him. Dipper looked around and noticed that there weren’t a lot of people for a Saturday afternoon. Almost immediately after they’d sat down, an older lady came up to them with a wide, welcoming smile and a note pad and pen tightly grasped in her flabby, wrinkled hands. Her makeup was intense and her right eyelid drooped so low, Dipper couldn’t see her eye. She wore a pink dress that fell just below her knees and a white apron that had a conspicuous grease stain on it. She looked a little worse for wear, but Dipper still found himself feeling relaxed in her presence. She reminded him of a grandmother that smelled like actual crap, but you ignored that because she was such a nice and heart-warming woman.

“Hello,” she said, her loud voice surprising Dipper, “I don’t believe I’ve seen you two around before. You new to town?” she asked them as she placed a menu in front of each of them, flashing them both a bright smile as she did so.

Mabel shook her head, speaking up so Dipper didn’t have to. “Nope!” she chirped with a bright smile of her own, seemingly unbothered by the older woman’s appearance. “We just don’t get out often. I’m Mabel, and this is my brother, Dipper.” she introduced, and Dipper felt uncomfortable at her polite chit-chat with the woman. He smiled at her and opted to look through the menu instead of actually conversing with her. Old habits die hard, he supposed.

“Hello,” she cheered once again, “I’m Susan, Lazy Susan.” then, she did the worst thing Dipper could have imagined. She lifted her eyelid and closed it again, shouting “wink!” as she did so. Dipper fought hard to not let his mouth hang open in abhorrence.

Mabel laughed, her eyes alight with wonder and amusement, and that was the reason Dipper swallowed his complaints and shoved his face into the menu.

“So what can I getcha to drink?” Lazy Susan asked, drawing her pen and notepad together as she focused her attention on them.

“I will have the sweetest tea you have!” Mabel grinned before turning her attention to Dipper. “What about you?” she asked.

Dipper looked up at the old woman. “Water is fine.” he smiled and looked back down to his menu.

Lazy Susan nodded, walking away from them and over to where he guessed the kitchen was.

Mabel picked up her menu and swung her legs excitedly under the table. “What looks good?” she asked him, her eyes glued to the menu.

“Since you’re getting a breakfast food, I guess I will too… the pancakes actually don’t look too bad. I think I’ll get them too.” he decided.

Mabel beamed, “Good. Now if you don’t like them I can have all the pancakes I want!” she cheered and Dipper laughed at her antics.

Lazy Susan came back to them a few moments later with their drinks and Mabel thanked her a little louder than Dipper did.

“Do you all know what you want to eat?” she asked.

“We’ll both have pancakes.” Mabel told her.

“Good choice, we make the best pancakes in town.” Lazy Susan boasted.

Mabel grinned as the older lady walked away. “I’m holding you to that.” she called after her. Dipper hadn’t forgotten how loud she was, but and how embarrassing it could be when they were in public. He was fully remembering the embarrassing memories of having to apologize to many people for his sister’s behavior and dragging her out of buildings. They both hadn’t changed much from when they were younger; Mabel was still the bubbly, loud, and zany girl she was, and Dipper was still the awkward, overenthusiastic and curious boy—man—that he was.

Mabel turned to him with a wide smile and rested her elbow on the table, planting her chin onto her folded and staring at him for a good minute or two of silence. Dipper nervously sipped his water.

“So, when are you going to introduce me to your boyfriend?” she asked, making Dipper nearly spit his water out, but luckily, he kept it in and quickly guzzled it down.

“What?” he yelped, staring at her with wide eyes.

“You’re boyfriend. When are you going to introduce me to him.” she said again, more matter-of-factly this time.

“Mabel, I don’t have a boyfriend.” he laughed nervously, “I’m not gay.” he told her.

Mabel waved him off, “Of course you’re not, I mean you’ve dated plenty of women in the past before, but that doesn’t change the fact that you totally have a crush on your boss.” she grin mischievously.

Dipper choked, “Mabel!” he exclaimed.

“Yes?” she asked innocently, batting her eyelashes.

“Bill and I are not, have not been, and will not  _ever_  be a thing.” he told her seriously, setting down his drink and making the decision to not take another drink until this conversation was over. He wished this conversation had never started in the first place.

“Wanna bet?” she asked, raising an eyebrow as the corner of her mouth lifted up into a smug smiled that only fueled Dipper’s annoyance on the matter.

“I am so sure that I actually  _will_ bet.” he told her, looking huffy.

A look of surprise flashed on Mabel’s features before it disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, transforming back into an expression of smug. “Okay, twenty bucks says you guys will be a thing before New Year’s.” she offered.

“Deal.” Dipper said.  _Easiest 20 bucks I’ve ever made,_ he thought to himself as Lazy Susan came around with their food. The twins thanked her and dug in, and Dipper was surprised to find that the pancakes were actually good. Like,  _really_   _good_. The twins barely spoke as they ate, content to enjoy their respective—for Dipper, at least—pancakes in silence, save for the few people around them that chatted happily.

Before they knew it, they both had empty plates and full stomachs. Dipper leaned back and folded his hands over his stomach, closing his eyes as a smile crept on his lips. “That was better than I had expected it to be.” Dipper admitted, getting a noise of agreement from Mabel. It was silent between the two for a moment before Dipper finally spoke. “I think it’s time to head home.” he said.

Mabel was still for a minute before she nodded her head mutely.

“I'll go take care of the check.” he told her and Mabel nodded.

Once Dipper had paid for their lunch he walked outside to find Mabel waiting for him. She turned to him with a small smile. “You ready?” she asked, to which Dipper nodded. “Let’s go then.” she said and began walking, not giving Dipper enough time to interject, though he had no desire to in the first place.

* * *

 

They walked together in silence, until they realized Mabel had been walking in the opposite direction. They walked passed the diner once again, but when Dipper looked over at it, something looked  _odd_  to him. He pointed this out to Mabel, but she said it was nothing to worry about, so they kept walking. That was, until they heard a loud crash from the inside.

Dipper froze. That had to be a  _very_  loud crash for them to be able to hear it from as far away as they were. Dipper slowly craned his neck towards the old building and was terrified at what he saw.

There, in the window, was a man with white hair, floating and surrounded by a transparent blue aura, but that wasn’t what terrified him. No, he had witnessed plenty of superhumans since the accident. What terrified him and left him rigid and cold was Mabel,  _running towards the diner_.

It was happening all over again. Mabel being in the same place as an attack, Mabel running to help people, and it wouldn’t be long until she was taken away from him again. No,  _no_ , he couldn’t lose her, not again.

He tried to call out to her, to tell her to stop, to  _beg_  her to stop, but the only noise that left his throat was a whimpering groan.

 _I have to go after her_ , he thought, his mind racing with so many different thought, feelings, and emotions, but somehow, his feet managed to work on their own as he began sprinting to the diner. His mouth seemed to finally work and he shouted his sister’s name at the top of his lungs, but he was too late. Mabel had already barged into the diner, Dipper not too far behind her. She had the coldest glare on her face and her stance was guarded.

The guy, who currently held a waitress by her throat, her feet dangling a few inches off of the ground, turned around to look at who had interrupted him. He looked shocked to find two young adults by the door. Mabel had a look that could kill, her face scrunched up into a glare and eyes as cold as snow, her chest heaving as she panted. Dipper, all the while, had his hands latched onto her wrist in a vice grip, obviously tugging at her arm, but she wouldn’t budge from her spot. He looked over at the other man nervously and his breath caught in his throat when they made eye contact. Then, a second later, he had shoved the girl behind him and puffed up his chest to look as threatening as possible.

Dipper glared up at the man, his demeanor had entirely changed from the nervous, pathetic looking man he had been but a few seconds ago. Now, not only did he have a look that could kill, not unlike Mabel’s, but he looked like he could actually do it. However, the man’s gaze was now fixated on the girl behind him, who walked up close to him and gripped his shoulder, deciding to stay behind Dipper, but still glaring at the white haired man. She was  _beautiful_.

The man lowered himself to the ground lightly and threw the waitress to the ground after taking a step towards them. Dipper deepened his stand and narrowed his eyes even more at the man as people behind the white haired man rushed to help the woman up from the floor.

“Why hello, and might I ask the name of such a beautiful woman as yourself?” he asked, obviously addressing Mabel.

Mabel glared, “No, you can’t.” she told him, making Dipper smirk lopsidedly.

He tutted, “Now, that’s no way to treat a stranger. My name is sadly, confidential, but you can call me Psyche, and let me ask again, what is yours?” his voice dropped an octave, but the twins found it hard to be threatened by such an odd fellow. He  _was_  dressed in a cape and an almost cowboy getup, in addition to his chubby face and rich southern accent.

Dipper’s eyes darted around the room looking for some way that they could get the hell out of there, but he came up empty. There seemed no other way to get out of this other than to fight.

“What do you want with these people?” asked Dipper, trying to take the initiative.

Psyche’s attention turned to him and he wore a surprised expression, as if he had forgotten completely that Dipper was there. “I needed some information and someone here could supply it.” he supplied.

Dipper narrowed his eyes, “Information about what?” he inquired.

Psyche narrowed his eyes at Dipper and decided he much preferred the girl over him. “That’s not important to an idiotic human like you.” he spat.

Dipper scoffed, “Like you weren’t human once.” he muttered and Psyche narrowed his eyes further.

“You’re useless to me.” he said and flicked his hand up and then to the side. Dipper didn’t even have time to process that he was off the ground before he was sent into the wall. Dipper struggled to breathe in and his eyes were wide open as pain shot throughout his body. Once he had gained some of his composure back, he stood up on shaky legs and looked over to Mabel. His eyes widened when he saw that she had backed herself up against the wall as Psyche slowly advanced on her.

He acted on impulse and shot after the man, being stupid enough to not use any magic as he tackled the man into a nearby table. Dipper knew he couldn’t win this fight, he barely had any powers at all, he only knew a few spells. He knew he couldn’t win this fight, but he could do  _something_. Dipper had to act quickly, he couldn’t stop time, but he could slowly it down, so after muttering a quick spell, everything slowed down around him. It was as if everything was moving through honey and he was the only one that could move normally.

Dipper ran over to Mabel, grabbing her phone and turning on the tracker Mabel had gotten and forced him to get after his incident with Mindscape, saying that he could have been kidnapped and she wanted to be safe. He had never been more grateful for his sister’s inane paranoia. He took one last wistful glance at his sister before stepping back and returning time to its normal pace.

He was quickly thrown to the ground and held there by the blue aura. Mabel stared at him in fear and called out his name, a smug grin spreading on Psyche’s lips. “Know your place,  _dog_.” he said before turning back to Mabel. “Now, my Queen, come with me.” he ordered, holding his hand out for Mabel to take, but Mabel only glared at him.

“You’re insane if you think I’m going to go anywhere with you.” she said hatefully.

Psyche’s hand fell to his side as he clucked his tongue and shook his head at her defiance. “Now that won’t do.”

Dipper felt trapped. He wanted to fight, but he wasn’t an idiot, he knew he couldn’t win. He didn’t know what to do and he was filled with uncertainty, and he  _hated_  it.

To Dipper’s horror, he had to watch limply as Psyche advanced on Mabel and forcefully took her wrist. Mabel was strong, and Dipper knew she could have fought against him easily—that is, if she were at her full strength, but she wasn't, so she couldn't do anything but take it. Dipper snarled and fought against the blue force at the thought of Mabel being defenseless with such a man.

Gideon didn’t spare him a glance as he took hold of Mabel’s other wrist. She thrashed and fought against him, but she couldn’t do much in her weakened state. Dipper looked over at the other people in the diner and despised them for just standing there and watching. He looked back over to Mabel and met her desperate eyes and his heart shattered in his chest because he couldn’t do anything, he was useless and he had to watch as his sister was taken away from him once again. It was like the universe was out to hurt him by taking away the things he cared about because it knew he didn’t care about anything happening to him. It was Mabel he truly cared about and it took advantage of that fact.

Even though Dipper knew there was nothing he could do if he broke loose, he still writhed and tried to break free to get to his sister.

Dipper could do nothing but watch as Mabel was dragged out of the diner, the force slowly holding him less as they got father away. Dipper wanted to run to her, he wanted to attack Psyche and take his sister back, he wanted to get up and do  _something_ , but he could do nothing but lie there and stare at the slightly moldy ceiling, frozen with guilt, pain, but most importantly loneliness.

Once again, he was without his sister, and once again, he could do nothing but think:

Why did everything bad seem to happen to him? 

* * *

 

It was only yesterday that Mabel had been taken. Dipper had left before the authorities could get there to ask him questions. He had stayed up all night thinking of how to get Mabel back and staring at his phone. It was torture, knowing exactly where his sister was and knowing that if he went to her he wouldn’t be strong enough save her. So after thinking all night, he hated the only seemingly logical solution he could come up with, but he couldn’t think of anything else, so it was the only option he had.

That was why Dipper was sitting in his house, standing by the radio with his eyes closed and just breathing. Then that was when he heard it.

“…between 3rd and 97th street, Mi—“ he didn’t need to hear anymore as he turned off the radio and tied his scarf around his face and left his apartment, speeding off faster than he ever had before on rooftops to his destination.

He only slowed down once he’d gotten to where he wanted to be.  _This is the place, so where is—there._

Dipper followed where he had heard the scream and stopped. He closed his eyes and waited, and sure enough, when he opened them again, there stood Mindscape, his posture laid back and an amused smirk on his lips.

“Back so soon? We just met a few days ago. I guess you just can’t stay away from me, huh?” he joked.

Dipper’s eye twitched in annoyance as he walked up to the man. He only stopped when he was a few feet away, unguarded and hating the fact that he was shorter than the other man.

Mindscape tensed and took a step back as the smirk fell from his face, replaced by an expression of confusion and distrust.

Dipper pushed back his instincts telling him to run and took a deep breath as he gathered his confidence.  _For Mabel_ , he told himself as he looked up to meet the other’s gaze and pulled down his scarf.

“I need your help.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I cannot begin to thank the beautiful Vivion for their help with this story. I was getting really lost and stressed because I didn't have everything sorted out and the really help shine a light for me. If you haven't read any of their stories, please do! I recommend Runaway Groom, it's a fantastic Billdip story with too many cute moments to count.
> 
> I hope to get back into the groove of updating regularly, I will update His next, I'm already halfway through with the next chapter. Also, I edited the prologue a tiny bit. Not enough for you to seriously need to check it out, though.
> 
> One more thing. I can't decide if I want to write smut for this fic or not. What about you guys? Would you like this fic to be smut free or smut filled?


	7. “Pine Tree, I regret to inform you but I am incapable of ‘not’ing.”

Dipper and Mindscape had decided to go somewhere more private to talk. It set Dipper on edge just how _private_ they were being. He was extremely tense as he walked with the mysterious man through poorly lit alley ways, around a shady corner, and then he finally came to a stop by an eerie park. There was no other sign of life, but that was to be expected, considering it was well into the night, and no sensible human being would take their kids out to play at such an hour.

It was a fairly large park, with a playground complete with swings, monkey bars, a dome climber, a couple spring horses, and a slide. There was a field to Dipper’s right and a few benches scattered randomly throughout the park, but Mindscape wandered over to the playground and sat down on a swing. Dipper couldn’t help but smile at his childishness, but he knew he couldn’t deny that he had cast at least one longing glance at the swing set.

Dipper walked over to the swing set and sat down on the swing next to Mindscape, cringing as it creaked under his weight and fearing it might break. The temporary truce they had established gave Dipper a tinge of courage, but he knew it could easily be broken at any moment. Mindscape was not a guy to let your guard down around, not even if you were on his side.

“So,” Mindscape started, interrupting the peaceful silence that had settled between them as if he had thrown a rock into still water. “What exactly do you need my help with? I gotta say, you’ve peaked my interest. Surely, it has to be something _big_ for you of all people to throw away your pride for.” Mindscape laughed, making light of the situation.

Dipper’s grip on the metal chain holding the swing tightened as he stared down at his knees that were pressed tightly together. He drew in a deep breath, “My… friend, was taken.” he lied, knowing better than to speak the truth about family around the vigilante.

“Your friend?” he asked, turning his head in Dipper’s direction, but Dipper didn’t make a move to meet his gaze. Mindscape’s eyes settled on the lower half of the man’s face. It was usually covered, and he couldn’t help but stare at the unfamiliar, yet strangely familiar skin that was on display for him, presumably as an act of showing Evergreen’s seriousness. He couldn’t help but be mesmerized by how sharp the man’s jawline was, how hollow his cheeks were, how cute his mouth looked as it was permanently turned downwards into a frown. “What’s his name?”

“Her, and it’s…” Dipper paused, obviously not wanting to say the girl’s name, and Mindscape didn’t blame him. Who would want to give their enemy and the world’s most feared villain the name of somebody they cared about? “Mabel.” he finally said, and Mindscape’s breath caught in his throat. He _knew_ that name, but from _where_?

“Mabel, huh?” he asked, looking up at the sky. The stars were slightly more visible then normal, due to them being farther away from the city, but there were still only enough to count on his fingers. “Lovely name.” he commented.

Dipper shrugged in response. He shivered from the cold and wished he could pull up his scarf again, but he didn’t want to give the other any reason’s not to trust him. Dipper was asking for his help, after all. “I guess. Anyway, she was kidnapped. By someone who called himself ‘Psyche’.” Dipper informed him.

Mindscape was silent for a moment, his expression—from what Dipper could see—was thoughtful. “If you were there with her, why didn’t you just take him down? Does she not know who you are? Even if she didn’t, you seem like the kind of guy who would stop at nothing for those you care about, or some romanticized shit like that.” he said.

Dipper smiled and began to softly swing himself, enough to make his feet hover off of the ground a fraction of an inch. “You’ve got my personality right, for the most part, but I knew I wasn’t strong enough to take him down—I mean, I can barely put a scratch on you when I’m lucky.” Dipper joked.

Mindscape chuckled, “You give yourself too little credit.” he said, “I’m a pretty tough guy, if I do say so myself, and you manage fairly well to hold your own against me. I’d say that’s something to boast about.”

Dipper wanted to tell the other that he gave himself too much credit, but Dipper knew he was just in saying that he was strong, because he was. “Do thine ears deceive me, or was that a compliment?” he turned to the other, a small smile playing on his lips. _No. No, you’re getting friendly with him. What the fuck do you think you’re doing getting friendly with him? How dare you have the audacity to smile when Mabel is probably scared shitless and wondering why her own brother let her be taken when he was_ right there _and equipped with goddamn superpowers!_ Dipper frowned at his thoughts. He was right, he shouldn’t be making jokes. He should be focusing on getting Mabel back.

Mindscape opened his mouth to reply, but Dipper cut him off. “I wasn’t able to fight him, but I was smart enough to slow down time a little and activate the tracking device my si- friend has in her phone.” Dipper said, ceasing his gentle swinging and pulling out his own phone, pulling up the tracker. He still found it amazing, even after weeks of having it, that such a small device could hold so much information and run so quickly.

Mindscape snorted, “You stalk your friend enough to be able to track her at any given time?” he asked, his tone dripping amused unbelief.

Dipper glared at him, “I don’t stalk her. It was a mutual decision. I was able to get her signal through Bluetooth. I have one on mine too.” Dipper regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth. Dipper cursed his years of helping Mabel study when she was falling behind slightly. He had gotten so used to explaining how he came to conclusions and here it was, biting him in the ass.

Mindscape perked up, an amused smirk playing on his lips. “Do you now?” he asked, leaning closer to Dipper.

Dipper quickly held his phone out of the reach of the man. “Don’t be getting any ideas.” he threatened, narrowing his eyes suspiciously at the other.

Mindscape leaned back, lifting up his hands mockingly. “I would never.” he said. Then he leaned forward again, a serious expression overtaking his features. “Okay, so I help you with your friend, that’s nice and all, but what do I get?” he asked. He was so close that Dipper felt he had to back up to even breathe.

“W-what do _you_ get?” he stuttered.

“Mm hmm,” Bill nodded, eyes half lidded and alight with amusement, “you didn’t expect me to work for free, did you?” he asked.

Dipper looked down at his lap. “I-I, I don’t know… I don’t know what I was expecting, honestly. Didn’t think I’d get this far.” he admitted. Dipper racked his brain for anything he had that could interest the man. “I don’t know. I don’t have a lot… I guess I could stop pursuing you?” he shrugged.

Mindscape clicked his tongue, “Now where’s the fun in that?” he asked, “…I think it would be even more fun if you joined me.” he decided, his eyes lighting up immediately. “Yes, I think I like that idea _very much_.” he purred.

Dipper jumped back and nearly fell out of the swing. _“Joined you?”_ he asked, his voice raising an octave from surprise. He glared at the man and sat up straighter. “I am _not_ going to help you terrorize people you think are below you for the hell of it.” he said.

Dipper jumped when a loud eruption of laughter came from Mindscape. Dipper stared at him with wide, calculating, and apprehensive eyes as he waited for the man to calm himself. “Is that—is that _really_ what you petty humans think I’m doing?” he asked. Dipper shivered at the way he used the word ‘humans’, as if he wasn’t one himself… he was, right?

Dipper frowned nervously. “Is it not?” he asked. _It’s obviously not,_ he chastised himself.

Mindscape calmed himself down so that only a wide grin remained on his face. He shook his head, “Not in the least bit. This isn’t anything about power, it’s something more than that.” he supplied, but Dipper was left with so many questions. _If it wasn’t about power, then what was it about? Did I have Mindscape wrong? Was he really a bad guy? Of course he was, he murdered multiple people right in front of you as if it were the simplest thing in the word,_ a voice reminded him. _That may be true, but does he have a justifiable reason for everything he’s doing? Of course not,_ came the voice again, _nothing could justify murder._

“Then, why _are_ you doing this?” Dipper asked, turning his body to face the other more.

Mindscape grinned, “Again, where's the fun in that? I'd love nothing more than to see you tearing your hair out over trying to find out my real agenda.” he said. Mindscape began to push himself on the swing, but only a little harder than Dipper had.

Dipper sighed and laughed quietly to himself. “Probably should've expected that.” he mumbled.

“So,” Mindscape said, twisting his body towards Dipper, somehow still managing to swing himself straight. “Deal or no deal, kid?” he asked, extending his hand to Dipper. Dipper yelped when it bursts into sapphire flames.

“Is that really necessary?” he asked. Mindscape just quirked the corner of his mouth up in a lopsided smirk.

Dipper sighed, _this is for Mabel,_ he reminded himself, _you've done worse things for her sake, and maybe this won't even be as bad as you're making it out to be?_ Dipper could only hope.

Without any more hesitation, Dipper reached his hand out and cautiously took the other’s flame enshrouded, gloved hand into his, shaking it briefly before saying, “Deal.” with a determined expression. Dipper wasn't sure if he was surprised or not by the fact that the fire simply felt like a warm tickle against his gloved hand.

 “Good choice. Now I'll go get your friend as you—“

“What?” Dipper interrupted him, “No, _no_. I'm coming with you.” he told the other.

Mindscape ‘tsk’ed and shook his head. “No can do, kiddo. I can have my new _team member_ getting hurt before I can make use of them.” the way he said ‘team member’ sent a shiver down Dipper’s spine. It was as if Mindscape viewed him as cargo—on second thought, Dipper decided he probably did. “You're staying here while I go get the girl and take care of this pathetic super.”

Dipper glared daggers at the man, “I'm not letting you near Mabel without my supervision. I don't trust you enough with her.”

Mindscape laughed, “It sounds more like she’s your girlfriend than simply a friend.” he said.

Dipper looked utterly appalled at the accusation. “Gross! No, we’re not like that she- she’s just very important to me.” he defended himself.

Mindscape nodded, “Sure… fine, you may come with me, but you're not leaving my side until I ensure that you won't be in anymore danger.” he conceded.

“And when will that be?” asked Dipper.

“As soon as I engage in combat with Psyche, was it? Then you may go get your friend. Tomorrow night, I want you to meet me here again.” he ordered, to which Dipper nodded in response. “Okay, good. Then let's get on our way.” Mindscape stood, the swing gently swinging backwards behind him, and stretching his arms above his head. Dipper flinched at the action. It would take him some time to come to terms with the fact that they were now allies, let alone become relaxed. No, Dipper believed it impossible for him ever to become relaxed around the scourge. If Mindscape noticed Dipper’s reaction, he didn't say anything about it. Instead, he began to walk, expecting Dipper to follow.

Dipper did, he stood up quickly, the swing darting out behind him fast enough to come back and bump hardly into his behind, earning a low chuckle from Mindscape and an embarrassed blush from Dipper. Dipper quickly caught up with Mindscape and did his best to keep up with the pace of his long legs.

_God damn tall people._

 

* * *

 

It had taken them a little while to find the place, even with the tracker. It had only provided a location, and Mindscape had stressed that he would be the one in charge, but as it turns out, he wasn't that good at getting places. It hadn't been long until they had been terribly lost and Dipper had forced the other to let him navigate. Mindscape begrudgingly agreed, and he didn't look any happier when Dipper had gotten them to the place in almost no time.

The building wasn't what Dipper had expected it to be; Dipper had honestly been expecting a rundown warehouse, probably in the middle of nowhere and extremely dusty and foul smelling. Instead, the building was tall, Dipper had to tilt his head up to see the top of it. Surely, it must be at least ten stories tall. Not only was it tall, but the looming structure was made entirely out of glass. Granted it was tinted glass, but glass nonetheless. They were pretty close to the city, but in an area with slightly more vegetation, giving Dipper and Mindscape fair coverage to hide behind.

“This place seems oddly inconspicuous.” Mindscape said, and it was genuine, because the place _did_ seem rather inconspicuous for someone to be holding a kidnaped victim hostage.

“It does… I think we should exercise caution.” Dipper said.

Mindscape snorted and placed his hands on his hips, “Of course we’re going to exercise caution. What did you think I would do, just stomp in there and take the dude by storm? Wing it?” he asked.

Dipper bit his lip, “Well, judging by your previous raids, that _is_ kind of your style.” he said.

Mindscape glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. “That's honestly what you think? You just assumed I was that reckless?”

Dipper nodded, “Yeah, kinda.”

Mindscape looked forward again, “I always have a plan.” he admitted.

Dipper looked at him in genuine shock. “You do?” Mindscape nodded. “And what is a usual plan for you?” he asked.

Mindscape grinned, “Take them by storm.”

Dipper stared at him incredulously. Then, as Mindscape began to walk towards the building, he realized he was being serious. Dipper gasped sharply and shot forward, grasping Mindscape’s wrist tightly. “No! You can't just barge in there and wing it, not this time. This is my sister at stake and I'm not letting you risk her life. Believe me when I say that the thing I want to do most is barge in there and take her back, but I know that that’s fucking foolish and there is a very slim chance that that will work. I know that you said this is normally what you do, and I know that this almost always works for you—“

“Correction:  it _does_ always work for me.”

“—but we are two different people who barely know anything about each other. If you want to barge in there, let’s go for it, we’d have the element of surprise after all, but we need to make sure that we’re, at the least, on each other’s wave length. So _please,_ let’s take a moment to get an idea of what we’re going to do.” Dipper finished, slumping his shoulders and giving Mindscape a pleading look.

Mindscape’s resolve slowly crumbled and he solemnly nodded. “Okay, we can map out a general plan of what we’re going to do, but I like to work spontaneously and just do what feels right, so we’re going to have to compromise a little.” he said. Dipper nodded eagerly in response, glad that the man had even agreed to give Dipper the peace of mind of a plan, no matter how religiously the other followed it.

Before Dipper could make some suggestions or even ask what Mindscape thought they should do, Mindscape tensed and twisted the arm Dipper had a hold of so that he could grab Dipper’s own arm and push both himself and Dipper into the bushes they had been hiding behind before. Dipper eyes widened as he fell to the ground and hit his head on a jutting tree root. Smarting pain shot through him and  Mindscape’s eyes flicked down to his mouth that was agape in preparation to shout, he immediately slapped a gloved hand over his mouth with speed that Dipper knew was inhuman. In fear, Dipper began to squirm and fight against the other.

“Shh, shh, shut up!” Mindscape whispered angrily. “I'm not trying to hurt you, god dammit.” Dipper heard voices, and that was the only thing that made him trust the man's words. The voices were too far away to make out what they were saying, but they were close enough, judging by how insisted Mindscape was on Dipper shutting the hell up. The guy had practically pounced on him. _No, he_ did _pounce on me_ , Dipper realized as he looked upon their current position.

Dipper was currently situated between Mindscape’s thighs, and he still had his hand pressed tightly against Dipper’s mouth. Dipper didn’t even know how he had the strength to support his weight on one arm in his plank-like position. The bushes were obviously maintained and, by the looks of it, trimmed every day, so they were pretty short, meaning Mindscape had to keep close to the ground if he wanted to remain unseen, and lucky Dipper! He was the ground. Mindscape was _so close_ that they’re forehead were practically touching. Dipper tried to focus on absolutely anything but their close proximity, and luckily for him, the voices were close enough now that he could slightly make out what they were saying.

“…che…being idiotic.” Dipper heard a voice say, obviously male.

“I don’t think what he’s trying to achieve is idiotic, but the way he’s going about it definitely is.” said another. Dipper couldn’t tell if it was a girl or a boy, but it sounded feminine.

It sounded as if they had stopped moving, and Dipper rolled his eyes in frustration as it appeared they had stopped nearby the patch of bushes he and Mindscape were hiding in. Dipper persisted in focusing his attention on the current distraction. “Especially with that bitch he’s been infatuated with since yesterday.” chimed in a third voice, which was most definitely a female. It was at that sentence that he’d froze.

They were talking about Mabel. They were referring to Mabel. They had referred to Mabel as a _bitch._

Dipper’s eyes were wide and his breathing was heavy. He was struggling to keep himself in check, but his anger was seeming to get the best of him. _I need a different distraction or else I’m going to blow everything,_ he thought.

Dipper drew in a deep breath as his eyes slid over to watch Mindscape’s face. He froze when he saw that Mindscape was staring intently at him with those sky and ocean blue with the smallest tinge of gold eyes that almost seemed to glow. They reminded him of Bill’s—no. no, no, no, _no._ He was _not_ thinking of his boss. Not right now, at least. He had more important and more pressing matters to focus his attention on than how his enemy-gone-ally’s eyes looked strikingly like his boss’s. Like, for instance, how Mindscape’s face was getting closer and closer to his.

Dipper quickly placed his hand on Mindscape’s chest and gave in a light shove while he used his other hand to remove the one Mindscape had on his mouth. “What do you think you’re doing?” he whispered as quietly as he could, all the while shooting the man a glare.

“Shush, they're coming closer.” he responded in an equally quiet voice.

If Dipper were being honest, he would say that this was the most awkward situation he had ever been in—no, scratch that, this was the _second_ most awkward situation he had ever been in, the first being him coming home to find his parents “getting it on” on the couch back in seventh grade, but it was still equally awkward.

However, Dipper’s glare fell from his face and he decided to turn his head to the side, hoping to lessen the awkwardness of the situation. It worked a little bit… yeah, no, he took that back. It was just as awkward as before with Mindscape’s breath tickling his neck through his scarf. _How long were these people going to stand here?_ Dipper thought to himself, and as if on cue, one of them, the more feminine one, said, “Come on, by the time we get back it’ll be time for our break.” and Dipper _finally_ heard their retreating footsteps.

Once Dipper was sure they were gone, he roughly shoved Mindscape off of him, giving him a heated glare as he sat up and dusted off his back. “Don't ever do that again.” he whispered, even though he knew no one was around anymore.

Mindscape laughed, “Don’t pretend you didn’t like it, Pine Tree.” he grinned.

Dipper’s glared deepened. “I’m not pretending.” he shot, and before Mindscape could say anything else, Dipper said, “Let’s just figure out a plan and never talk about this again.” Mindscape nodded and sat up as well, a serious expression replacing his previous lighthearted one. Dipper wanted to take the lead, but he decided to let Mindscape have it. He had agreed to help him despite knowing this could be a trap, after all. “What do you think we should do?” he asked.

Mindscape looked momentarily surprised, but quickly composed himself and once again wore his serious countenance. “I think we go in there and take down everyone until we find the guy, then I’ll keep him busy while you go find your precious girlfriend—“

“—Not my girlfriend.”

“—and you don’t come back for me, alright? You go home with the girl and take care of her until tomorrow night, then we’ll meet at the park from earlier and I’ll take you to a secure location where we can become… more acquainted with each other.” Dipper wanted to ask what he meant by that, but he knew there were more important matters at hand, so he just nodded, showing he agreed with the plan. It was the same from what Mindscape had told him they would be doing back at the park, they just had to make sure to get passed anybody between them and Psyche.

“Okay, but we use stealth to get passed anybody. We only use violence for them as a last resort, and no killing whatsoever—and yes, that includes Psyche.” Dipper told him. Mindscape agreed, but he looked sour about it. “Okay, then let’s get going.” Dipper said and began to walk towards the building after a quick glance to make sure no one was there.

It was a few seconds later when they were nearing the front doors when Mindscape easily passed him and walked in front of him. “Stay behind me.” he ordered. Dipper did nothing but nod in response, even though Mindscape couldn’t see it.

When they arrived at the doors, Mindscape stopped. Dipper looked up at with a quizzical expression as he stopped as well. “What is it?” he asked, his voice hushed.

“If this is a trap, I will kill you. I just want you to know that.” he said, and Dipper would be lying if he said he wasn't intimidated by the man in that moment.

“It isn't a trap.” Dipper shook his head, “I wouldn't be stupid enough to attempt that. We both know you could kill me in a heartbeat.”

Mindscape grinned cheekily and placed a hand over his heart. “Flattery will get you everywhere, kid.” he said.

Dipper groaned, “Let's just do this. The longer we wait, the longer Mabel is alone, thinking that I didn't do anything to get her back.”

“Yeah, let's go save your gir—“

“She. Is. Not. My. Girlfriend.” Dipper said slowly. He was passed the point of disgust and now he was just annoyed.

“Whatever you say, Pine Tree.” he grinned and then opened the door, Dipper following him with a sour expression.

 

 

* * *

 

They had managed to get to the fourth floor without any incidents. They decided to quickly sweep every floor because they didn't know where Psyche would be, and Dipper stayed true to his word and stuck by Mindscapes side, a little too close, in you asked Dipper, but he felt a little safer next to such a strong person that was—hopefully—on his side. Once they were half way through searching the fourth floor, they had been spotted and had to quickly and quietly take the two men out. Dipper felt satisfied when he was able to take one out by himself, but he didn't linger on the feeling because he knew they had more pressing matters to deal with.

It was when they had gotten to the seventh floor that they'd heard it.

“…to see you.” a voice said.

“He does? Why?” said another. She sounded fearful.

“I don't know? Why would I know? He just gave me orders to fetch you.” the first woman told her.

The other girl sighed, “Where is he, even?” she asked.

“I think he was on the ninth floor… yeah, he was on his way to visit the girl when Jared stopped him to discuss the… damn it, what the fuck was that thing called?”

“The rift.” replied the other woman. Mindscape tensed next to Dipper, but Dipper decided the conversation between the girls’ was more important.

“Yeah, that… anyway, he asked for you.”

“Okay, I’ll go now.” the girl said.

Dipper peaked over the corner he and Mindscape were hiding behind to watch the girl leave. The one who was walking away from the other girl leaning against the wall was dressed in dark jeans and black, leather boots with a dark green military style vest. She had long blonde hair that was tied into a ponytail and tan skin.

The girl who she was leaning on the wall was lighting a cigarette. Dipper grimaced, thinking about how she was throwing her health away, and how he would love to engage in a conversation with her about the health risks of it. She looked like the really belonged here, with her short, blue hair and her rugged appearance. She wore black leather pants, a low cut dark blue shirt under a black leather jacket, and black leather shoes—Dipper didn’t know how, or more specifically _why,_ but they even had heels. It appeared she really liked leather. She also had a number of weapons with her.

Dipper leaned back over the corner and pressed himself against the wall. “That girl looks like she could take on three rhinoceroses and fucking own them.” Dipper muttered.

Mindscape frowned and leaned over the corner to get a better look for himself, thus pressing himself against Dipper. Dipper’s breath caught in his throat and he pressed himself against the wall as much as he could, but Mindscape only leaned closer to him.

“Can you not?” Dipper asked.

Mindscape mumbled, uninterested. Dipper huffed and held his tongue and didn’t relax until Mindscape leaned away again. “It doesn’t look like she has any intention of leaving anytime soon and she is in the way of the staircase. We have no choice but to take her on. I think I can take her, though.” Mindscape said, striding out into the hallway with a confidence that was foreign to Dipper.

“Oi, Guns.” he called, making Dipper’s eyes practically pop out of his head as he stared in horror. _Could Mindscape really take on that girl?_ Dipper peaked over the corner to see.

The girl lifted her head to look up at him and a smug smirk spread on her lips. “Mindscape,” she greeted, “glad to see you here so soon.”

“You were expecting me?” he asked.

The girl nodded, “Pyronica told me you would be coming.” she said.

“Oh, so you’re with Py?” he asked. The girl nodded again. “Okay, so you’re a double agent here.” once again, she nodded. Mindscape turned to Dipper and grinned. “Come on out Pine Tree, it’s safe.” he said.

“Who is Pyronica?” Dipper asked as he took a cautious step into the hallway, making sure to keep a watchful eye on the girl who flicked her cigarette on the floor and stomped it out with her foot.

“She’s a friend; someone who keeps an eye in a place I can’t.” he explained.

“Oh… and what’s your name?” Dipper asked the girl, his body tensing as she pushed off the wall and strode over to them.

“Kara.” she replied, stopping in front of them. “I assume you’re here to see Psyche?” she asked. Both Dipper and Mindscape nodded. “He’s on the ninth floor. I would take you there but if anyone were to see me with you, my cover’d be blown. Instead, I’ll just tell you where to go.” Dipper listened to her instructions eagerly, and once she had finished, the two thanked her for her help and went on their way to the staircase.

After a few moments, they were standing in front of the door Kara had told them to go. Dipper risked a glance at Mindscape and found him staring down at Dipper. “Are you ready to do this?” he asked.

Dipper gnawed on his lip, “I don’t have a choice. I have to get Mabel back.” and with that, he pushed open the door.

The room was as Dipper had expected it to be; boring. The wall in front of him was made entirely out of glass and the others were painted a dull white. In the center of the room was a long, darkly stained, wooden table, surrounded by black chairs. There were various plants stuffed in corners—most likely fake—and Dipper felt the room lacked any creativity. Mabel would die if she saw it.

At the thought of his sister, Dipper’s eyes wondered over to the three figures that sat at the end of the table as they began to stand after seeing who had barged in to the room. His gaze settled on the man dressed just as bizarrely as when he had first seen him. He wore a white suit and that stupid bolo tie.

“Mindscape,” he said, surprised. Then his eyes flitted over to Dipper in confusion, “and, who is this?”

“Evergreen.” Dipper said.

“Evergreen? But I thought… why are you here?” he asked.

Dipper drew in a deep breath and stood up straight, trying to look as threatening as possible. “Where is the girl you took?” he asked, his voice surprisingly calm.

Psyche simply blinked at him until a grin spread on his lips and he laughed heartily. He turned to the two people beside him. One, he recognized as the blonde who had been in the hallway, talking to Kara. She stared at him with wide, green eyes. She looked so innocent and Dipper found it strange that she would be working with such a man.

“You two, leave, now.” he ordered them. They both nodded their heads and quickly rushed out of the room, not wanting to get involved in this situation, and Dipper didn’t blame them.

“What do you want with my queen?” he asked once they had left the room.

“Y-your queen? Whatever obsession you have with Mabel is sickening and I’m taking her back.” Dipper spat. Getting worked up, he took a step forward, but Mindscape held out an arm, keeping him back. Instead, Mindscape took the initiative and stepped forward.

“Just tell us where the girl is.” he said, his tone cold and unfriendly.

Psyche ignored him, instead peering closely at Dipper with a scrutinizing gaze. Then, his features darkened and he scoffed, almost annoyed. “It’s you, isn’t it?” he asked, an unbelieving smile spreading on his lips. “You were at the diner that yesterday when… what—what was your name? D-d… Dip—“

“Shut it.” Dipper interrupted. He cast a worried glance at Mindscape, but he was unable to see his face, as he was in front of him. “Just tell me where Mabel is, now.” he demanded.

Psyche narrowed his eyes, “I don’t like that tone, _dog._ ” Dipper snarled at him, remembering the use of that name the day before. Mindscape glanced back at him and Dipper met his gaze.

 _I want to hurt him._ Dipper told him through his eyes.

 _Wait._ Mindscape said back and looked over at Psyche again. Dipper took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. He watched as Mindscape took a few steps towards Psyche and stopped after he was a few feet in front of him. Dipper slowly inched closer, subconsciously trying to stay close to Mindscape.

“If you don’t comply, I’ll have to get nasty with you, and I don’t think I want to let Pine Tree here see me get nasty.” he shook his head, “so just tell us where the girl is and no one gets hurt… badly.” he added as an afterthought.

Dipper did nothing but look at him out of the corner of him eye before fixating his stare on to Psyche, watching him cautiously.

He let out a bark of laughter, “I don’t have to tell y’all nothin’. You see, this here is _my_ ‘home’, and _I’m_ the one with back up, not you. I could call in anyone at any time. I only haven’t because I find you amusing, _dog._ ” he grinned and Dipper gritted his teeth to keep himself from lashing out.

Mindscape reached forward to grasp the man’s throat, and it came as a surprise to both of them when he jumped back in time to doge the attack.

“Light on your feet, eh? Quite a surprise, considering.” he shrugged and Psyche narrowed his eyes at the insult.

Dipper watched suspiciously as the gears began turning in Psyche’s head. He was cooking something up, Dipper just _knew_ it. “It seems you’re awfully protective over the dog.” he said, “It would surely be a shame if something were to happen to him.” he grinned, and before Dipper knew what was really happening, Psyche was off of his feet and in front of Dipper in the blink of an eye.

Dipper’s breath caught in his throat and he stepped back in surprise. Psyche smirked as his pudgy hand reached out to wrapped his fingers around Dipper’s throat and throw him with inhuman strength to the side.

Everything had happened in a flash in Dipper’s eyes, and he had barley registered anything other than the breath being knocked out of him at the same time as he heard the shattering noise of glass and the sensation of falling. And if he were fooling himself, he might have said he thought he heard someone shout his name.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so, I know I said I was gonna update His first, but this just happened idk man  
> \\_('-')_/
> 
> I did some reconstruction to the fic because I did some more research on the corporate structure topic, and I'm going to change the way Dipper and Bill interact so that Bill will be a little colder to Dipper, but don't worry, he'll become the softy he is soon enough. I just didn't like the way their relationship was because I want Bill and Mindscape to seem like entirely different people. I'm stating everything now so that you don't have to go back and read it all over again. Basically, what I did is Bill is the CEO and President, Acorst is not the chairman, Bill actually knows wtf he's doing and so does Dipper because he was an assistant for the photographers, and the relationship between Dipper and Bill. If you want to read it again, no one is stopping you, but that's all I'm going to change so far. 
> 
> Your comments are so important to me and sometimes keep me from "going off the edge" (if you know what I mean). Even if you just say something short like "great chapter!" It means so much to know that people actually like what I do. I don't know, I feel like I haven't stressed how much I love your comments and I really wanted to express that to you guys. 
> 
> I love you all and I'll update soon. (:
> 
> P. S. I miss my loyal commenters. They seem to have disappeared after I took a break. ;-;

**Author's Note:**

> This whole thing is a cheesy piece of trash. It puts cheese to shame with how cheesy it is.


End file.
